The School committee will need about $58,000 to start the program in the first year.

Chicopee Comprehensive High School culinary arts teacher Karl Krawczyk, left works with Jake Flaucher 18, a senior and Sarah Stone 17, a junior, in culinary class. The School Committee Wednesday voted to add a new vocational program to the school. File photo / The Republican  

CHICOPEE – The School Committee voted to expand its vocational courses by adding a new program in computer design and visual communications to help meet the increasing demand of students interested in career technical courses.

The committee voted 9-0 Wednesday to approve the program, but it will have to wait until it receives more information about state and federal funding to schools before educators know if they can afford the cost of purchasing equipment and hiring staff.

“This is the first step. Hopefully we will get this in place,” School Committee member Michael J. Pise said.

He and Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. said they feel students who graduate from the program should be able to find jobs, especially since companies are starting to do work such as website design themselves instead of hiring outside consultants.

The program, which would be offered under the career technical or vocational department, would teach students skills relating to website design. Students would learn about advertising, marketing, graphic design, photography and animation, among other concepts,.

Faced with a long waiting list of students interested in vocational education, last year career technical department director Kenneth R. Widelo and other teachers conducted and extensive study and proposed the school add as many as five new programs to the 10 that it already offers.

Design and visual technology is the easiest and least expensive to add. The school's photography teacher is certified to teach the subject, so in the first year, it would only cost the school about $58,000 to buy equipment. In the second year, a new instructor and about $50,000 more in equipment would be needed, the study said.

“I am very hopeful, I'm cautiously optimistic the money will be there for this,” Rege said.

The other thing that makes it an attractive program is Comprehensive High School, where the career technical program is housed, has little additional space for new career technical education programs and the courses would require no special space, just a classroom or two, he said.

“I really want this to happen, I see no downside to this,” said School Committee member David G. Barsalou, an artist and recently-retired Springfield teacher who taught computer design.

AMHERST – The League of Women Voters of Amherst is hosting a Candidates’ Night March 27 in the Amherst Regional Middle School Auditorium, 170 Chestnut St. The informal meet and greet begins at 7 p.m. and the forum at 7:30 p.m. Although there are no contested races in the town-wide races, the forum is designed as an opportunity for residents...

AMHERST – The League of Women Voters of Amherst is hosting a Candidates’ Night March 27 in the Amherst Regional Middle School Auditorium, 170 Chestnut St.

The informal meet and greet begins at 7 p.m. and the forum at 7:30 p.m.

Although there are no contested races in the town-wide races, the forum is designed as an opportunity for residents to know more about the candidates.

Nancy Eddy, past president of the Amherst League, will moderate.

A Chinese Internet address was the source of a cyberattack on one of the South Korean companies hit in a massive computer shutdown that affected five other banks or media companies, initial findings indicated Thursday.

An employee works near a computer screen with error message at the newsroom of the all-news cable channel YTN as the broadcaster's computer network was paralyzed in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Computer networks at major South Korean banks and top TV broadcasters crashed en masse Wednesday, paralyzing bank machines across the country and prompting speculation of a cyberattack by North Korea.  

By SAM KIM

SEOUL, South Korea — A Chinese Internet address was the source of a cyberattack on one of the South Korean companies hit in a massive computer shutdown that affected five other banks or media companies, initial findings indicated Thursday.

It's too early to assign blame — Internet addresses can easily be manipulated and disguised — but suspicion for Wednesday's shutdown quickly fell on North Korea, which has threatened Seoul with attack in recent days because of anger over U.N. sanctions imposed for its Feb. 12 nuclear test.

Experts say hackers often attack via computers in other countries to hide their identities. South Korea has previously accused North Korean hackers of using Chinese addresses to attack.

The crash Wednesday caused computer networks at major banks and top TV broadcasters to crash simultaneously. It paralyzed bank machines across the country and raised fears that this heavily Internet-dependent society was vulnerable.

A Chinese address created the malicious code in the server of one of the banks, Nonghyup, where computers crashed, according to an initial analysis by the state-run Korea Communications Commission, South Korea's telecom regulator.

It is expected to take at least four to five days for the infected computers to recover fully.

Regulators have distributed vaccine software to government offices, banks, hospitals and other institutions to prevent more outages.

The fatal shooting of Colorado's top prisons official when he answered the front door at his house highlights a troubling reality for the nation's judges, prosecutors and other legal officials: At a time when attacks on them are rising, it's difficult for them to remain secure, even when they are off duty.

The home of Tom Clements the executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections is pictured near Monument, Colo., on Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Clements was shot and killed at the front door to the house Tuesday night.  

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and P. SOLOMON BANDA

MONUMENT, Colo. — The fatal shooting of Colorado's top prisons official when he answered the front door at his house highlights a troubling reality for the nation's judges, prosecutors and other legal officials: At a time when attacks on them are rising, it's difficult for them to remain secure, even when they are off duty.

Investigators do not yet know why Tom Clements, 58, was shot around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at his home just north of Colorado Springs. They could not rule out any possibilities, including that it was a random shooting or that it was an attack related to Clements' job, authorities said.

Tom Clements  

While small in numbers, similar attacks on officials have been increasing in the U.S. in recent years, said Glenn McGovern, an investigator with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office in California who tracks such incidents worldwide. He said there have been roughly as many in the past three years — at least 35 — as the entire prior decade. Revenge is usually the motive, he added.

"It's often taking place away from the office, which makes sense, because everyone's hardening up their facilities," he said, adding that he advises prosecutors to constantly assess the safety of their residences.

On Jan. 31, Texas prosecutor Mark Hasse was gunned down as he left his car in the parking lot to the county courthouse. McGovern also counts the rampage by an ex-Los Angeles police officer who killed the daughter of a retired city police officer as part of a plot to avenge his firing.

In Colorado, a prosecutor was fatally shot in 2008 as he returned to his Denver home. In 2001, federal prosecutor Thomas Wales was fatally shot by a rifleman while he worked on a computer at night in his Seattle residence. Both cases remain unsolved.

Attacks on legal officials are still extremely rare, said Scott Burns of the National District Attorneys Association, which counts 11 prosecutors as having been slain in the last 50 years. But he acknowledged that legal officials are vulnerable outside of protected offices and courthouses.

"If someone wants to truly harm or kill them, it's very difficult, frankly. There's not a lot we can do," he said.

Mike McLelland, the district attorney in rural Kaufman county east of Dallas, is a 23-year military veteran. Since his prosecutor, Hasse, was killed on his way into the office, McLelland has warned his staff to be vigilant about their surroundings and possible danger.

"The people in my line of work are going to have to get a lot better at it, because they're going to need it more in the future," McLelland said, adding that he carries a gun everywhere he goes.

Colorado Corrections spokeswoman Adrienne Jacobson would not comment on whether Clements had security at his home. Security was stepped up for other state officials, including Gov. John Hickenlooper, who was ashen-faced as he addressed reporters at the capitol Wednesday.

"Tom Clements dedicated his life to being a public servant, to making our state a better place and he is going to be deeply, deeply missed," Hickenlooper said. In response to a question, he said he believed the rest of his cabinet was safe.

Clements came to Colorado in 2011 after working three decades in the Missouri prison system. He began a review of Colorado's solitary confinement system. He reduced the number of prisoners being held in solitary and closed a new prison built specifically to hold such prisoners — Colorado State Penitentiary II.

He lived in a wooded neighborhood of large, two-story houses on expansive 2-acre lots dotted with evergreen trees in an area known as the Black Forest. Long driveways connect the homes to narrow, winding roads that thread the hills. After word of the shooting spread Tuesday, residents slept with shotguns at the ready, fearful the shooter would return.

It would have been simple to find Clements' house. It took two clicks to get his correct street address through a publicly available Internet locator service Wednesday morning. The listing also included his previous home address in Missouri.

McGovern said he tells his prosecutors to assume that any possible assailants can find their home addresses online and to check for areas they may be especially vulnerable such as neighboring alleys and poorly lit porches.

There is no central database of attacks on legal officials and senior law enforcement executives like Clements.

McGovern has documented 133 of them in the U.S. since 1950 by searching through news accounts and court cases. The total includes 41 killings of judges, prosecutors and other justice and police officials. The assaults usually come with little warning, he said.

Steven K. Swensen, a former U.S. marshal who runs a business consulting on security for court officials, said that attacks on legal staff used to occur in courtrooms. As security has been expanded to protect those rooms, then courthouses, the attacks have spilled out further and further.

"Now we're having more violence off-site, in judge's houses, on their way to and from work," Swensen said.

While Clements generally kept a low profile, his killing comes a week after he denied a request by a Saudi national to serve out the remainder of a Colorado prison sentence in Saudi Arabia.

Clements also recently requested chemicals to execute Nathan Dunlap, who was convicted of killing four people during a 1993 shooting rampage at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant and is scheduled to become the second person executed in Colorado since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Clements' father-in-law, Carroll Smith, told The Denver Post that Clements opposed the death penalty.

Earlier this week, Clements spoke to legislators about the need for more security staff in the department's food service areas. Last year, a kitchen worker at a state prison was killed and another was injured in an assault involving an inmate.

Clements is at least the second state prisons chief killed in office. Michael Francke, director of the Oregon corrections department, was stabbed to death outside his office in 1989 in what prosecutors described as a bungled car burglary. A former Oregon prison inmate was found guilty of aggravated murder in 1991 and sentenced to life in prison.

Hickenlooper ordered flags lowered to half-staff at public buildings until the day after Clements' funeral.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Thomas Peipert in Monument, Colo.; Steven K. Paulson, Dan Elliott, Nicholas Riccardi, Alexandra Tilsley and Colleen Slevin in Denver; and Maria Sudekum in Kansas City, Mo.

The nation's views on gay marriage are more favorable in large part because of a shift in attitudes among those who know someone who is gay or became more accepting as they got older of gays and lesbians, according to a national survey.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said Thursday, March 14, 2013 that he now supports gay marriage and says his reversal on the issue began when he learned one of his sons is gay. Knowing someone who is gay or just getting older and thinking about the issue are two big reasons the country is viewing same-sex marriage more favorably, according to a national survey. The Pew Research Center poll helps explain why Americans seem to be changing their minds on the issue and follows the recent public embrace of gay marriage by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Portman.  

By JENNIFER C. KERR

WASHINGTON — The nation's views on gay marriage are more favorable in large part because of a shift in attitudes among those who know someone who is gay or became more accepting as they got older of gays and lesbians, according to a national survey.

The Pew Research Center poll also finds that a large group of younger adults who tend to be more open to gay rights is driving the numbers upward. The issue has grabbed the national spotlight recently with the public embrace of same-sex marriage by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio.

"We've certainly seen the trend over the last ten years," Michael Dimock, director of the center, said Wednesday. "But we're now really in a position to talk about the combination of generational change and personal change that have sort of brought the country to where it is today."

Overall, the poll finds 49 percent of Americans favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, and 44 percent opposed to the idea. That's more people now favoring gay marriage than opposing it. A decade ago 58 percent opposed it and a third supported it.

The 49 percent who now support same-sex marriage includes 14 percent who said they have changed their minds.

When asked why, almost one-third say it's because they know someone who is gay — a family member, friend or acquaintance. A quarter said their personal views have changed as they thought more about the issue or just because they've grown older and more accepting.

One of those polled said: "My best friend from high school is a gay man, and he deserves the same rights," adding that his friend and a partner "are in a committed relationship."

Another person attributed the shift in attitude to "old fashioned ignorance," and said "I grew up a little bit."

Just 2 percent overall said their views have shifted against gay marriage.

Another major factor in the long-term shift in the public's view: the so-called millennial generation of young adults born since 1980_today's 18- to 32-year-olds who entered adulthood in the new millennium. The survey finds 70 percent of millennials favor same-sex marriage.

Gay marriage has long been an issue of partisan political debate, but it resurfaced recently with Clinton and Portman declaring their support, and as the Supreme Court prepares to take up the issue.

On Monday, Clinton announced her support for gay marriage — lining up with other potential Democratic presidential candidates who favor it.

In an online video released by the gay rights advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, Clinton says that gays and lesbians are "full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship."

And last week, Portman reversed course and said he now supports gay marriage. He said he had a change of heart after he learned one of his sons is gay. "I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn't deny them the opportunity to get married," he wrote in an op-ed in The Columbus Dispatch. His reversal makes him the only Republican in the Senate to back gay marriage.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments next week in a challenge to a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act — the federal law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. It's also reviewing California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage.

The Pew Research findings are based on a survey of 1,501 adults nationwide conducted Mar. 13-Mar. 17. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The report can be found at: http://www.pewresearch.org .

Associated Press Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

Rusted pieces of two Apollo-era rocket engines that helped boost astronauts to the moon have been fished out of the murky depths of the Atlantic, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and NASA said Wednesday.

This image provided by Bezos Expeditions shows a thrust chamber of an Apollo F-1 engine on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in March 2013. An expedition led by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pulled up two rocket engines, including this one, that helped boost Apollo astronauts to the moon. Bezos and NASA announced the recovery on Wednesday, March 19, 2013. The sunken engines were part of the Saturn V rocket used to bring astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s. After liftoff, they fell into the ocean as planned.  

By ALICIA CHANG

LOS ANGELES — Rusted pieces of two Apollo-era rocket engines that helped boost astronauts to the moon have been fished out of the murky depths of the Atlantic, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and NASA said Wednesday.

A privately funded expedition led by Bezos raised the main engine parts during three weeks at sea and was headed back to Cape Canaveral, Fla., the launch pad for the manned lunar missions.

"We've seen an underwater wonderland — an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end," Bezos wrote in an online posting.

Last year, the Bezos team used sonar to spot the sunken engines resting nearly 3 miles deep in the Atlantic and 360 miles from Cape Canaveral. At the time, the Internet mogul said the artifacts were part of the Apollo 11 mission that gave the world "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Bezos now says it's unclear which Apollo mission the recovered engines belonged to because the serial numbers were missing or hard to read on the corroded pieces. NASA is helping trace the hardware's origin.

Apollo astronauts were launched aboard the mighty Saturn V rocket during the 1960s and 1970s. Each rocket had a cluster of five engines, which produced about 7 1/2 million pounds of thrust. After liftoff, the engines — each weighing 18,000 pounds — fell to the ocean as designed, with no plans to retrieve them.

Bezos and his team sent underwater robots to hoist the engines, which are NASA property. In a statement, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden called the recovery "a historic find."

In this image provided by Bezos Expeditions, workers inspect a thrust chamber of an Apollo F-1 engine recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in March 2013.  

Bezos plans to restore the engine parts, which included a nozzle, turbine, thrust chamber and heat exchanger. Amazon.com Inc. spokesman Drew Herdener declined Wednesday to reveal the cost of the recovery or restoration.

NASA has previously said an engine would head for the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. If a second was recovered, it would be displayed at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, where Amazon.com is based.

The ocean floor off Cape Canaveral is strewn with jettisoned rockets and flight parts from missions since the beginning of the Space Age. What survived after plunging into the ocean is unknown.

In one of the more famous recoveries, a private company in 1999 hoisted Gus Grissom's Mercury capsule that accidentally sank in the Atlantic after splashdown in 1961. The capsule is now featured at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.

Besides running the online retailer, Bezos founded Blue Origins, one of the companies with a NASA contract to develop a spaceship to carry astronauts to the International Space Station.

In a previous posting, Bezos said he was inspired by NASA as a child, and by recovering the engines "maybe we can inspire a few more youth to invent and explore."

Pope Francis has quickly been dubbed the "unpredictable" pope — and for a bodyguard, unpredictable means trouble.

Carabinieri (Italian paramilitary police) perform security checks on visitors wanting to enter St. Peter's Basilica as cardinals are gathered in the Sistine Chapel for the second day of the conclave to elect a new pope, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2013.  

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON

VATICAN CITY — Forgive Pope Francis' security team for looking a bit nervous.

One pope was shot in St. Peter's Square while riding in an open vehicle. Another was tackled by a woman with mental problems in St. Peter's Basilica. So in the early days of Francis' pontificate, as the pope delights the flock by wading into crowds and pressing the flesh, it's only natural that chief Vatican cop Domenico Giani seems on edge.

Just consider some of Francis' acts of papal outreach, which have all made for a refreshing change from the reserved style of his predecessor Benedict XVI, but present a huge headache for a security detail attached to one of the planet's most high-profile people.

The day after his election, Francis eschewed the Vatican's armored limousine and traveled through the chaotic streets of Rome in an ordinary car to pick up his things at a downtown hotel.

At his first Sunday Mass as pontiff, Francis caused a stir by mingling with bystanders at a Vatican gate, shaking hands and even allowing himself to be grabbed by the shoulder, all while people jostled to get closer.

Then on inauguration day, Francis stood for nearly 30 minutes Tuesday in an open vehicle that circled the vast square, kissing babies handed up to him and at one point jumping out to bless and kiss a disabled man in the crowd.

It's not for nothing that Francis has quickly been dubbed the "unpredictable" pope. And for a bodyguard, unpredictable means trouble.

Giani looked particularly worried by the crowd that gathered after the Sunday Mass. La Stampa newspaper quoted an aide at the scene as saying that things "better get back to normal or we're in trouble."

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said last week that the Vatican was well aware of Francis' informal and open style and that "proper security measures" would be taken, even if that hasn't happened immediately.

"There are a lot of nut cases out there," said another Vatican official, who requested anonymity as he is not authorized to discuss security.

"But you can be sure that the security issues are being examined."

Even Francis' habit of constantly running late can't make his bodyguards happy, since they're used to carefully choreographed and timed events. After Mass on Sunday, it seemed as if one of the monsignors was begging Francis to hurry up, as he nervously looked at his watch — but the pope kept diving into the crowd.

Francis' meet-and-greet manner is reminiscent of John Paul II's open style in his first years as pope. And an iconic event in the earlier papacy brought to light some of the terrifying potential consequences of papal spontaneity. It was 1981 and John Paul had just handed a baby back to her mother, as his open jeep drove slowly through a crowded St. Peter's Square. Shots rang out. The pope crumbled and bodyguards swarmed around him.

The Turkish gunman's assassination attempt left John Paul severely wounded. While he made a full recovery, an era of light security was over.

Benedict's papacy also had its share of scares.

In 2008, a German man jumped on the pope's jeep and had to be wrestled down by a Vatican policeman. Two years later, a woman with a history of psychiatric problems jumped the security barricade in St. Peter's Basilica during Christmas Eve Mass and pulled Benedict to the ground. The pope was uninjured but a cardinal fell and broke his hip.

Experts say that ditching the motorcade and the security detail can be dangerous in unexpected ways. "If someone like the pope publishes the fact that he doesn't have the usual level of security, it only highlights the potential threats," said British security expert Richard Aitch, the author of "Close Protection."

Aitch, whose resume lists work for royalty, diplomats, and other VIPs, cited the example of British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose decision to forego motorcycle outriders drew concern after his official car was pictured caught in central's London slow-moving traffic a few years ago. Such a situation could basically turn him into a sitting duck for any potential attacker.

In general, Aitch said that any leader's decision to drop their guard "creates a security headache" — particularly if it becomes a habit.

And the pope isn't just any leader, he's one of the most public figures in the world. During an ordinary week, the pope makes a minimum of two appearances, at his general audience Wednesday and from his apartment window for his Sunday blessing.

For the new pope, it may all boil down to balancing legitimate security concerns with his down-to-earth manner and distaste for luxury.

Francis, for example, famously rode the bus to work while archbishop of Buenos Aires. While that casual style will likely stay, don't expect to meet him in one of the ubiquitous trams that snake through Roman streets.

AP writers Raphael Satter in London and Nicole Winfield at the Vatican contributed to this report.

The front door to the restaurant appeared to be shattered.

Springfield police detectives examine the front door of Red Apple Chinese restaurant, 5 Orange St. where several shots were fired Wednesday night. At least one person was injured. The Republican | Patrick Johnson  

SPRINGFIELD - Police are on the scene of a shooting on Orange Street where several shots were fire and two people were struck.

Conditions of the injured were not available, according to police.

One person was seen being treated by EMTs on the scene. He appeared to have an injury to his arm.

Police were alerted to the shooting at 7:30 p.m. when several gunshots were detected by the Shotspotter system.

Police have cordoned off the sidewalk in front of the Red Apple Chinese Food.

Detectives could be seen examining the front door to the restaurant, which appeared to be shattered.

According to police, there have been no arrests, but detectives are talking to people who may have witnessed the shooting.

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The election of a Jesuit pope devoted to the poor and stressing a message of mercy rather than condemnation has brought a glimmer of hope to American nuns who have been the subject of a Vatican crackdown, according to interviews with several groups.

Sister Simone Campbell, right, executive director of Network, speaks in front of Renate Dellmann, of Ames, Iowa, left, during a stop June 18, 2012, on the first day of a 9-state Nuns on the Bus tour in Ames, Iowa. Campbell says ``it can make a big difference'' to have a pope who knows about life in religious orders.  

By NICOLE WINFIELD and RACHEL ZOLL

VATICAN CITY — The election of a Jesuit pope devoted to the poor and stressing a message of mercy rather than condemnation has brought a glimmer of hope to American nuns who have been the subject of a Vatican crackdown, according to interviews with several groups. The nuns were accused of having focused too much on social justice at the expense of other church issues such as abortion.

The 2012 Vatican crackdown on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the largest umbrella group for U.S. nuns, unleashed a wave of popular support for the sisters, including parish vigils, protests outside the Vatican embassy in Washington and a U.S. Congressional resolution commending the sisters for their service to the country.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ordered up the doctrinal assessment of the LCWR in 2009 around the same time another Vatican department launched an investigation into the 340 women's religious orders in the country in a bid to try to stem the decline in their numbers. The results of that review haven't been released.

But the doctrine investigation led the Vatican to impose a full-scale reform of the conference after determining the sisters had taken positions that undermined Catholic teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality while promoting "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith." Investigators praised the nuns' humanitarian work, but accused them of ignoring critical issues, including fighting abortion.

In an interview with The Associated Press this week, U.S. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the head of the U.S. bishops' conference, said he expected Pope Francis would bring "freshness" and understanding to the debate with the Leadership Conference, given Francis' own experience as a Jesuit familiar with the problems of life in religious orders. Francis also ran the Jesuit province in his native Argentina in the early years of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, which kidnapped and killed thousands of people — including some priests — in a "dirty war" to eliminate leftist opponents.

Dolan said: "I think the greatest thing he's going to bring is to say to everybody 'Be not afraid. We're friends. We're on this journey together. We can speak openly to one another. We both have things to learn. We both have changes we need to make and let's serve one another best by being trusting and charitable yet honest to one another.'"

Dolan said it was "too early to say" whether Francis would take a softer approach on the crackdown than his predecessor, German theologian Pope Benedict XVI and his then-chief doctrinal watchdog, Cardinal William Levada, who has since retired.

Sister Nancy Sylvester of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary from Monroe, Mich., who has held leadership posts in U.S. sisters' groups, said she has been encouraged by Francis' emphasis on the poor.

"I am really trying to be hopeful," Sylvester said. She said there were signs in Francis' public comments as pope and his track record "that he would be much more sympathetic to women religious."

"He's an intelligent man, his experience clearly has changed him and I think those are good signs," Sylvester said in a phone interview.

U.S. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, who preceded Dolan as head of the U.S. conference bishops, said he didn't expect any major shift in the process and said Francis' Jesuit background would actually bring the Vatican's reform greater credibility to its critics.

"He is a religious who governed a province through a lot of these difficulties," George said in an interview. "It's one thing to be for the poor, it's another thing to be for the poor in a way that compromises the teaching of the church. He showed that. And if anybody can bring credibility to the religious superiors ... it will be a religious pope."

The former Jorge Mario Bergoglio was a Jesuit priest when the Vatican in 1989 imposed a similar crackdown on the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious orders, purportedly because it relied too heavily on Marxist interpretation of social ills — a victim of the Vatican's overall crackdown on liberation theology at the time in the region.

Bergoglio is no friend of liberation theology, the Latin American-inspired view that flowered in the 1970s and 1980s that Jesus' teachings imbue followers with a duty to fight for social and economic justice. He has disavowed it as a misguided strain of Catholic tenets.

But that doesn't mean he rejects the ultimate goal. Francis' addresses and homilies as cardinal often referred to the need for the church to focus on the world's economic failings and growing divides between rich and poor — a theme he made clear would be a priority now that he is pope in his homily at this week's installation Mass.

In that homily and in one two days earlier, Francis also gave a hint about how he might exercise the power that he now wields: with tenderness and mercy, not condemnation and punishment.

"I think we too are the people who, on the one hand want to listen to Jesus, but on the other hand at times like to find a stick to beat others with, to condemn others," Francis told parishioners at the Vatican's St. Anna church on Sunday. "And Jesus has this message for us: mercy. I think - and I say it with humility - that this is the Lord's most powerful message: mercy."

Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a social justice lobby founded by nuns four decades ago, said "it can make a big difference" to have a pope who knows about life in religious orders.

"This is a time of wait and see. I've talked to a lot of people are more hopeful than they have been in a very long time," said Campbell, who was a featured speaker at the Democratic National Convention that nominated President Barack Obama for a second term. "There is a huge hunger for spiritual leadership, real spiritual leadership, and I hope it goes to that and not to the internal political fights. ... This has always been about an internal political fight. It's never been about faith."

Campbell said no one expects church officials to ever announce they would drop plans for the overhaul, even if they decided the approach was misguided. "They'll never say this is a bad idea. That will never happen," Campbell said. "The most we can hope for is that the Italian method is followed where it quietly slips to the background and life goes on."

But Sister Mary Ann Hinsdale, a theologian at Boston College, a prominent Jesuit school in Massachusetts, argued that there is some evidence Francis could take a hard line with American sisters. Jesuits have a different approach to religious authority than many sisters do, grounded in obedience to a superior, she said.

"I would think Pope Francis would have the same understanding," Hinsdale said. Religious sisters' vow of obedience "operates more through the community, more democratically," Hinsdale said.

"He's clearly a theological conservative," Hinsdale said of Francis. "He's religious himself, however he's a Jesuit."

Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain and two other bishops were named by the Vatican to oversee rewriting the Leadership Conference's statutes, review its plans and programs, approve speakers and ensure the group properly follows Catholic prayer and ritual. The conference represents about 57,000 sisters or 80 percent of U.S. nuns.

The Leadership Conference has argued that the Vatican reached "flawed" conclusions based on "unsubstantiated accusations." The group's officers have said they would participate in discussions with Sartain "as long as possible" but vowed they would not compromise their group's mission.

The LCWR declined a request for an interview but said in a statement their conversations with Sartain continue. "We look forward to continuing to work with the Vatican for the good of the whole church," the group said.

Greg Magnoni, a spokesman for Sartain, said the archbishop was not available for an interview. However, Magnoni said "no one knows at this point whether Pope Francis' election will have an effect" on the reform. At a Seattle news conference last week on Francis' election, Sartain said he had no reason to believe his role overseeing the changes would be different under the new pontiff.

The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of "The Jesuit Guide" who has been an outspoken supporter of U.S. sisters in the wake of the Vatican crackdown, said Jesuits have traditionally worked closely with sisters and even helped found their religious orders.

"Since the pope's first homily focused specifically on 'tenderness,' we may see that his application of church rules will be a little more gentle," he said.

Zoll reported from New York.

Three years, two elections, and one Supreme Court decision after President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, its promise of health care for the uninsured may be delayed or undercut in much of the country because of entrenched opposition from many Republican state leaders.

Maria Webster joins others protesting Texas Gov. Rick Perry's stance on health care outside the state capitol Jan. 29, 2013, in Austin, Texas, where Perry was to deliver the state of the state address. Three years, two elections, and one Supreme Court decision after President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, its promise of health care for the uninsured may be delayed or undercut in much of the country because of entrenched opposition from many Republican state leaders.  

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

WASHINGTON — Three years, two elections, and one Supreme Court decision after President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, its promise of health care for the uninsured may be delayed or undercut in much of the country because of entrenched opposition from many Republican state leaders.

In half the states, mainly led by Democrats, officials are racing deadlines to connect uninsured residents to coverage now only months away. In others it's as if "Obamacare" — signed Mar. 23, 2010 — had never passed.

Make no mistake, the federal government will step in and create new insurance markets in the 26 mostly red states declining to run their own. Just like the state-run markets in mostly Democratic-led states, the feds will start signing up customers Oct. 1 for coverage effective Jan. 1. But they need a broad cross-section of people, or else the pool will be stuck with what the government calls the "sick and worried" — the costliest patients.

Insurance markets, or exchanges, are one prong of Obama's law, providing subsidized private coverage for middle-class households who currently can't get their own. The other major piece is a Medicaid expansion to serve more low-income people. And at least 13 states have already indicated they will not agree to that.

"It could look like two or three different countries," said Robert Blendon, a Harvard School of Public Health professor who studies public opinion on health care. "The political culture of a state is going to play an important role in getting millions of people to voluntarily sign up."

Civic leadership — from governors, legislators, mayors and business and religious groups — is shaping up as a huge factor in the launch of Obama's plan, particularly since the penalty for ignoring the law's requirement to get coverage is as low as $95 the first year.

People-to-people contacts will be key, and the potential for patchwork results is real.

"Obviously it's a possibility in terms of there being some real difficulties," said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., whose efforts helped pass the law. Casey also said he believes the Obama administration will be ready to lead in states holding back.

Disparities already are cropping up.

Town Meeting Day — the first Tuesday in March — is a storied tradition in Vermont, and this year it provided a platform to educate residents about their options under the health care law. As many as 250,000 may eventually get coverage through Vermont Health Connect, as the state's marketplace is known.

"Even before we were a state, these town meetings existed," said Sean Sheehan, director of education and outreach. "It's a way people come together as a community, and we are counting on those community connections to get the word out." The health care plan was on the agenda at about 100 town meetings, and other local gatherings are taking place.

Texas residents are entitled to the same benefits as Vermonters, but in the state with the highest proportion of its population uninsured, Gov. Rick Perry will not be promoting the federal insurance exchange, a spokeswoman said. Nor does Perry plan to expand Medicaid.

The result is a communications void that civic and political groups, mayors, insurers and hospitals will try to fill.

"You have people who aren't really charged up about it because they don't even know that they would qualify," said Durrel Douglas, spokesman for the Texas Organizing Project, an activist group. A national poll this week by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that two of every three uninsured people don't know enough about the law to understand how it will affect them.

Supporters of Obama's law in Texas say the federal government hasn't shown up yet to launch the state's insurance exchange and no one is sure when that will happen.

"It is a much bigger lift here," said Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income people. "The sooner the federal exchange can get engaged and working with all the folks here who want to promote enrollment, the better."

The Congressional Budget Office predicts a slow start overall, with only 7 million gaining coverage through the exchanges next year, rising to 24 million in 2016.

At a recent insurance industry meeting, federal officials directing the rollout rattled off a dizzying list of deadlines. Public outreach will begin in earnest this summer and early fall, said Gary Cohen, head of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.

The government sees three main groups of potential customers for the new insurance markets, he said.

There's the "active sick and worried," people who are uninsured or have pre-existing medical conditions. Under the law, insurers will no longer be able to turn the sick away.

There's the healthy and young. "They feel invincible, they don't feel a need for health insurance," said Cohen.

Finally, there's the passive and unengaged. "For these people, a significant education effort needs to happen," he said.

To keep premiums affordable, the government will need to sign up lots of people from the last two groups to balance those in poor health, who will have a strong motivation to join.

The official heading consumer outreach for the rollout, Julie Bataille, acknowledges the challenge but says she's confident.

"This is a really an enormous opportunity for us to change the conversation around health care and help individuals understand the benefits they can get," she said.

His departure would leave Democrats with a 2-1 majority on the commission after Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell leaves in a few weeks.

Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the FCC, is expected to announce he is stepping down on Friday, March 22, 2013. (AP File Photo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski (jen-uh-KOW'-skee) is reportedly set to announce Friday that he will step down.

That's according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited an unnamed FCC official and an industry representative on Thursday.

His five-year term is to end in June.

Genachowski, 50, chaired a group that advised President Barack Obama on technology, media and telecommunications policy in his first campaign for president and was appointed FCC chairman by Obama in 2009.

His departure would leave Democrats with a 2-1 majority on the commission after Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell leaves in a few weeks.

Genachowski has pushed for more access to high-speed Internet in rural America, and contributed to AT&T's decision to abandon its acquisition of T-Mobile in 2011.

A spokesman for Genachowski declined to comment.

The Mashpee Wampanoag have exclusive rights for a casino in southeastern Massachusetts, but the gaming commission must consider bids for a commercial casino in the region if the panel decides the U.S. Department of the Interior will not approve land in trust for a tribal casino.

FALL RIVER -- Political leaders in southeast Massachusetts on Thursday clashed on whether state gaming regulators should allow a commercial casino in the southeast to compete with a planned Indian casino.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission held a hearing at Bristol Community College in Fall River on whether the panel should seek bids for a commercial casino in the southeast region. Under the state's 2011 casino law, the Mashpee Wampanoag have exclusive rights for a casino in the region, but the commission also must consider bids for a commercial casino if the panel decides the U.S. Department of the Interior will not approve land in trust for a tribal casino.

Stephen Crosby, chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. The Republican photo by Greg Saulmon  

Stephen P. Crosby, chairman of the commission, said the commission would take testimony under advisement and could possibly make a decision in several weeks.

The Mashpee tribe, one of two federally-recognized Indian tribes in the state, is planning to build a casino resort in an industrial park in Taunton near the intersection of Routes 24 and 140 but it faces some legal obstacles. The tribe and Gov. Deval L. Patrick unveiled a new agreement on Wednesday that calls for the tribe to pay the state 17 percent of gaming revenues, down from the 21.5 percent in a prior agreement that was turned down by the federal government as too high.

Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Wampanoag Tribe, told gaming commissioners that he wanted to make it "quite clear" there is no need to open up the southeast region to a commercial casino.

"Once this agreement is approved by the Legislature and submitted to the Department of Interior, we expect speedy approval," he said.

The tribe would pay 21 percent tax on revenues if commercial casinos in Western Massachusetts and the Boston area never open, but that seems improbable, given the competition in those two regions.

Cromwell said the tribe is on track for approval by the federal Department of Interior.

Cromwell said the National Indian Gaming Commission has approved the tribe's gaming ordinance and the tribe has negotiated an agreement with Taunton. The agreement with the city calls for the tribe to pay Taunton at least $8 million a year. Taunton voters last year also overwhelmingly approved a ballot question on the planned casino.

Cromwell said that on Wednesday the lead lawyer at the Department of Interior told the tribe that it is making substantial progress in its review of the tribe's application and considers the determination a top priority.

"Put simply, it means that we expect to have our land taken into trust by the Department of Interior this year and that we will have shovels in the ground by this time next year," Cromwell told the gaming commission. "We will be open for gaming by early 2015."

That timeframe would put the tribe a year ahead of a Western Massachusetts casino, which is on pace to possibly open in 2016.

Supporters of a commercial casino for southeast Massachusetts cited a recent Supreme Judicial Court ruling, known as the Carcieri decision, that said the federal government could only take land into trust if the tribe was federally recognized by 1934 when the Indian Reorganization Act became law. The Mashpee tribe received federal recognition in 2007.

Cromwell said the tribe is working with the federal government under the guidelines of that court ruling.

If the commission does allow a commercial casino in the region, the tribe could still pursue a casino under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which gives federally-recognized tribes special rights to open a casino. But the tribe would not have exclusive rights in the southeast region, dominated by old manufacturing cities like Fall River and New Bedford that are experiencing high rates of unemployment.

Some top politicians in the region were divided on the issue, depending on the communities they represent.

Rep. Shauna L. O'Connell, a Taunton Republican, said the tribe has met every requirement of the state law.

Fall River Mayor William A. Flanagan urged the commission to accept bids for a commercial casino in the region.

Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye warned that if the tribe opens as a fourth casino in the state, using its rights under the federal Indian gaming law, the state and the city would lose the ability to receive revenues from the Indian casino.

A couple of New Bedford lawmakers pleaded for a commercial casino for the area.

Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral, a New Bedford Democrat, said the commission should immediately move to allow a commercial casino in the southeast region.

"We in southeastern Massachusetts should not be left behind the rest of the state," Cabral said.

Cabral said the market should determine if the southeast region can support both a commercial and a tribal casino.

Rep. Robert M. Koczera, a New Bedford Democrat, said the tribe faces "insurmountable obstacles" to getting land into trust for a casino

"The Gaming Commission cannot afford to wait months and years from today to revisit a commercial license," for southeastern Massachusetts, Koczera said. "The commission must act today to ensure that (the southeast) region will derive the same benefits from casino gaming as the other two regions of the state."

KG Urban Enterprises of New York has been working on a plan for a waterfront casino in New Bedford.

The state's gaming law allows for three casino resorts in separate geographical zones of the state and one slots facility that could be anywhere.

Western Massachusetts currently has the most competition with four casino giants vying for the area's lone license.

MGM Resorts International is proposing an $800 million casino in the South End of Springfield and Penn National Gaming is proposing $807 million casino in the North End including on properties owned by The Republican.

Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno is currently negotiating agreements with both companies. Sarno will determine if one or both of those agreements go on the ballot for possible voter approval.

The Mohegan Sun is proposing a casino on 152 acres near Exit 8 of the Massachusetts Turnpike in Palmer.

Hard Rock International is proposing a $700 million to $800 million casino resort in West Springfield on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition, the organization that holds the annual 17-day "Big E" fair.

The gaming commission is planning to award the first casino resort license in February of next year. The commission might award the slots-only license as soon as September.

At least three major casino companies are seeking the commercial license reserved for the Boston area.

The ordinance was driven by a statewide effort to run background checks on vendors to screen for drug and sex offenses.

NORTHAMPTON - The City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Thursday requiring ice cream trucks operating in the city to obtain a permit from police.

The ordinance was driven by a statewide effort to run background checks on vendors to screen for drug and sex offenses. Under the new law, vendors must pay a $50 fee for the license, an amount intended to cover the cost to police of doing the background check. Permits must be displayed on the truck.

City Councilor David A. Murphy, a member of the Public Safety Committee that recommended the ordinance, said early Thursday that the measure was an effort to comply with a recently passed state law.

“The state wants to license ice cream trucks to make sure there aren’t drug dealers and child molesters selling ice cream,” he said prior to the vote.

And although ice cream trucks have been a common sight in Northampton, some come from as far away as Connecticut. Police Chief Russell P. Sienkiewicz said it does not matter under the new ordinance where the truck originates.

“You have to get a permit to sell ice cream in Northampton,” he said.

Violations result in a fine of $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second offense and $300 for a third offense.

The School Committee voted to rescind an earlier vote to stop operating the online school in the fall.

GREENFIELD - The School Committee Thursday night voted 5 to 2 to direct School Superintendent Susan Hollins to prepare a request for proposals to submit to the state by April 22 for the continued operation of Massachusetts Virtual Academy.

The School Committee also voted 5 to 2 to rescind an earlier vote not to operate the online kindergarten through grade eight school next year.

The school, with 470 students, from all over the state was created as the first virtual school in the state for students whose parents did not want them to attend brick and mortar schools for various reasons.

School Committee member Maryelen Calderwood opposed the motion to continue to operate the school.

She said that in her opinion the School Committee should not be in the business of operating charter schools.

The school was criticized after students’ MCAS scores did not measure up to the MCAS scores of other students in the state.

Jeff Wulfson, deputy commissioner for education, told the School Committee Tuesday night that the MCAS scores of students in newly created schools frequently are lower for the first few years.

Many parents came to the School Committee meeting Thursday to lobby the School Committee for the continuation of the state’s only online school to date.

Sheila Rose said she has two children in the virtual school.

She said both of her children were bullied in school. Since her son has been attending the online school, he has been able to stop taking anxiety medication, she said.

“Brick and mortar schools do not work for everyone,” she said.

Steven Holik, a fourth grader at Massachusetts Virtual Academy, said, “My school is flexible, but challenging. I work harder at it than I did at my other school.”

He added, “It is a good school. I don’t want it to close down.”

Judy Draper of Greenfield, a retired special education teacher, said, “I applaud you for reconsidering this. This is broadening the scope of education in Massachusetts.”

She added that without the school there will be children whose needs are not being met.

Mayor William Martin, also a member of the School Committee, said he continued going forward with the operation of the online school.

Wulfson said the state for 2014 will be accepting proposals for a total of 10 online schools in the state.

Tens of thousands of Chicago students, parents and teachers learned Thursday their schools were on a long-feared list of 54 the city plans to close in an effort to stabilize an educational system facing a huge budget shortfall.

A lone student walks outside Lafayette Elementary School in Chicago with a poster asking that the school not be closed on Thursday, March 21, 2013, in Chicago. At Lafayette, a school in the Humboldt Park neighborhood where 95 percent of its 483 students come from low-income families, the principal read teachers a letter from the district Thursday saying the school is among those it plans to close under a contentious plan that opponents say will disproportionately affect minority students in the nation's third largest school district.  

By JASON KEYSER and SARA BURNETT

CHICAGO — Tens of thousands of Chicago students, parents and teachers learned Thursday their schools were on a long-feared list of 54 the city plans to close in an effort to stabilize an educational system facing a huge budget shortfall.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the closures are necessary because too many Chicago Public School buildings are half-empty, with 403,000 students in a system that has seats for more than 500,000. But opponents say the closures will further erode troubled neighborhoods and endanger students who may have to cross gang boundaries to attend school. The schools slated for closure are all elementary schools and are overwhelmingly black and in low-income neighborhoods.

CPS officials say money being spent to keep underutilized schools open could be better used to educate students elsewhere as the district deals with a $1 billion budget deficit. About 30,000 students will be affected by the plan, with about half that number moving into new schools.

"Every child in every neighborhood in Chicago deserves access to a high quality education that prepares them to succeed in life, but for too long children in certain parts of Chicago have been cheated out of the resources they need to succeed because they are in underutilized, under-resourced schools," said district CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett. "As a former teacher and a principal, I've lived through school closings and I know that this will not be easy, but I also know that in the end this will benefit our children."

As word of the closures trickled out, parents and teachers reacted with anger and shock, some even crying. Sandra Leon said she got a tearful call from her grandchildren's kindergarten teacher saying the school was on the list to be closed. Her two grown children also attended the school, and Leon wiped her eyes as she waited outside for her grandchildren.

"It's been so good for our kids," Leon said. "This school is everything."

Chicago officials have moved to close schools in the past, but never anywhere near the number designated at one time by the Emanuel administration. Former Mayor Richard M. Daley's administration spread school closings over a number of years. CPS, the nation's third-largest school district, now has 681 schools.

Chicago is among several major U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, Washington and Detroit to use mass school closures to reduce costs and offset declining enrollment. Detroit has closed more than 130 schools since 2005, including more than 40 in 2010 alone.

The issue has again pitted Emanuel against the Chicago Teachers Union, whose 26,000 members went on strike early in the school year, idling students for seven days. It has also put Emanuel and Byrd-Bennett at odds with parents, civic leaders and lawmakers, who have blasted the pair during highly charged community meetings throughout the city and at a legislative hearing earlier this week.

Union President Karen Lewis criticized Emanuel, who is out of town with his family, for being on vacation on the day of the announcement. She called the closings "an abomination."

"This is cowardly and it is the ultimate bullying job," Lewis said. "Our mayor should be ashamed of himself."

The vast majority of the 54 schools are in overwhelmingly black neighborhoods that have lost residents in recent years. Chicago's black population dropped 17 percent in the last census as African-Americans moved out to the suburbs and elsewhere. The other few schools are majority Hispanic or mixed black and Hispanic. Overall, 91 percent of Chicago public school students are minorities.

Many of the schools identified for closure are in high-crime areas where gang violence contributed to a marked increase in Chicago's homicide rate last year. The district plans to have community groups help students get to their new locations safely.

Among the critics is Eular Hatchett, who lives in the violence-plagued neighborhood of North Lawndale and walks her 13-year-old nephew DaVontay Horace to school.

"Our parents know about this area," she said. "They don't know about those other areas. If they send him way north or way south, I'm not going to do that. It's too dangerous."

Because some schools have more than one building, a total of 61 structures will be closed. In addition to the closures, students at 11 other schools will be "co-located" with existing schools. Six schools have been targeted for academic interventions known as "turnaround."

CPS says the plan will save the district $560 million over 10 years in capital costs and an additional $43 million per year in operating costs.

The district plans to invest $233 million into what it calls the "welcoming" schools, or the buildings that students in closed schools will be moving to. Those funds will be used for air conditioning, upgraded technology and security and to ensure every school has a library.

District officials said they couldn't calculate how many teachers will be laid off as a result of the cuts because school leaders will make decisions about their own budgets.

Many teachers and parents expressed anger and frustration at how the news of the closures trickled out, leaving some to agonize over rumor and conjecture.

"In a word, the approach was brutal. It's certainly not deserved by these parents and these kids," said Mary Visconti, the director of the Better Boys Foundation, a youth organization in the Lawndale neighborhood.

At Lafayette Elementary, where 95 percent of its 483 students come from low-income families, teacher Rosemary Maurello said the principal read teachers a letter from the district Thursday morning saying the school is among those it plans to close. The letter said a final decision would be made in May after more community meetings are held and budget plans are reviewed.

But Maurello said letters and information packets were already being sent to parents and the district's message to teachers included a mention of specific plans to move the Lafayette students to another school about 10 blocks away.

"It sounds like a done deal to me," Maurello said.

Associated Press reporter Herb McCann contributed to this report.

At least once a month, Jonathan Standridge drives two hours to the prison in Aberdeen, Wash., hoping to have a positive influence on what has been a bleak, if sometimes thrilling, young life, and to repay a favor someone once did for him.

Colton Harris-Moore, also known as the "Barefoot Bandit," is shown in Island County Superior Court on Dec. 16, 2011, in Coupeville, Wash. Jonathan Standridge, a Boeing project manager, is serving as a mentor to Harris-Moore while Harris-Moore serves time in prison for series of thefts that included boats, cars and airplanes.  

By GENE JOHNSON

SEATAC, Wash. — Jonathan Standridge and Colton Harris-Moore made an odd couple as they sat together in the visiting room of a Washington state prison one day last spring.

Standridge, 57, is a project manager at Boeing, one of the world's most important aviation companies. Harris-Moore, 21, is the "Barefoot Bandit," a world-famous airplane thief who is serving a seven-year sentence after a sensational run from the law in stolen boats, cars and planes.

As it turned out, they had a lot to discuss. Aerospace design. Books. And second chances.

"What have you heard about me?" Harris-Moore asked, Standridge recalled.

"I've read all about the 'Barefoot Bandit,'" Standridge said. Harris-Moore replied: "That's not who I am."

Ever since, Standridge has returned to the prison in Aberdeen, a two-hour drive from his lakeside home in the Seattle suburb of SeaTac, at least once a month, hoping to have a positive influence on what has been a bleak, if sometimes thrilling, young life, and to repay a favor someone once did for him.

"This is a young man that is fully engaged in the rehabilitation process that we in society ask of those folks who are in our prison system," said Standridge, who has tutored Harris-Moore in the airplane business and a lot more.

The progress is threatened by new burglary and theft counts that could add to Harris-Moore's sentence, he said.

Standridge was lining up other aviation specialists to meet with Harris-Moore when the prisoner was transferred last month to the Skagit County Jail. Prosecuting Attorney Rich Weyrich said he filed the charges because the plea agreement other prosecutors reached with Harris-Moore in 2011 was too lenient.

Harris-Moore grew up poor on Camano Island north of Seattle, raised by an alcoholic mother and a series of her felon boyfriends — a feral childhood he wouldn't wish on his "darkest enemies," he once wrote to a judge. He earned his first conviction at age 12, in 2004, for stolen property, and things only got worse. After he walked away from a halfway house in 2008, he embarked on a two-year burglary spree, breaking into unoccupied vacation homes and stores, and stealing money and food.

Some of the crimes were committed barefoot, and by 2010, he had rocketed to international notoriety as he stole small airplanes in the Northwest, flew them with no formal training and landed them with various degrees of success. A few were only lightly damaged, but two crashes were so severe he could have been killed.

His final run was a cross-country dash to an airport in Indiana, where he stole a plane, crashed it in the Bahamas, and was arrested in a hail of bullets.

He pleaded guilty to dozens of charges, apologized, and sold the rights to his story to FOX, which plans a movie. Any proceeds will repay his victims.

That, Standridge tells him, is the past — useful in determining how we got where we are, but not what we will become.

A chance encounter led Standridge to Harris-Moore. At last year's Seattle International Film Festival, he met Lance Rosen, Harris-Moore's media attorney. As they made small talk, Rosen grew more interested in Standridge's work and finally asked: Would he be interested in mentoring Harris-Moore?

Intrigued, Standridge sent Harris-Moore a letter in prison. Harris-Moore wrote back, and Standridge was hooked.

"The key ingredient I look for in something like this is somebody who has passion — passion for life, passion to move forward," Standridge said. "It immediately came off the pages of this first letter that we had a highly motivated young man who was looking to change his life."

Stocky and well-spoken, with short, receding white hair and a salt-and-pepper goatee, Standridge is married and has a 19-year-old daughter. He came from a background very different from Harris-Moore. He was born in Oklahoma City to a loving, engaged family and later moved to Illinois. Nevertheless, as a young man he was directionless and fell into heavy drug use, he said. After wasting most of his 20s, he enlisted in the Navy in 1984.

At boot camp, he got caught with drugs and instead of sending him home, the Navy captain in charge of the base offered him a second chance — warning Standridge that he'd be following his career.

Standridge spent seven years in the Navy, four on the flight deck of the U.S.S. Constellation aircraft carrier, where watching the F-14 fighter jets fostered a love of airplanes that began in boyhood, when his father would take him to watch the planes at Will Rodgers World Airport in Oklahoma City.

He went on to graduate from Seattle University in 1997, the same year he began working for Boeing. He stresses that his involvement with Harris-Moore is on his own time, not a company-sanctioned initiative.

At their first meeting, Harris-Moore walked into the visiting room amid a line of other convicts. Sunburned from being in the prison yard, he wanted to know why Standridge was taking such an interest in him. Standridge told him the story of the Navy captain.

"Even today I think about it. Without that second chance, I would not be where I am today," he said. "That is what I'm passing on to Colt, the opportunity for that future."

He made Harris-Moore promise that he'll repay the favor when he gets his life re-established. They shook hands on it.

While he declined to get into some specifics about their conversations, Standridge said Harris-Moore badly wants to get a pilot's license and hopes one day to design prototype aircraft. Harris-Moore has said he wanted to get an aeronautical engineering degree while in prison. They talk about planes, corporate governance, management techniques, body language, and books — Steve Jobs' authorized biography was a favorite of Harris-Moore's, he said.

Only rarely and in passing do they discuss his time on the run. When Harris-Moore learned Standridge grew up in the Midwest, they commiserated about the size of the mosquitos he encountered on his way to Indiana.

Sometimes Harris-Moore draws his ideas for plane design on a piece of notepaper to show Standridge.

"He is in a very good place. He likes where he's headed. He likes the person he has become," he said.

The new spending bill passed by Congress on Thursday appears to continue the requirement for six-day mail delivery, but some lawmakers and postal officials say plans to cut Saturday service should proceed.

A empty mail bin sits in the back of a truck as U.S. Postal Service letter carrier of 19 years, Michael McDonald, delivers mail, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, in Atlanta. The financially struggling U.S. Postal Service wants to stop delivering mail on Saturdays but continue to deliver packages six days a week under a plan aimed at saving about $2 billion a year.  

By PAULINE JELINEK

WASHINGTON — The new spending bill passed by Congress on Thursday appears to continue the requirement for six-day mail delivery, but some lawmakers and postal officials say plans to cut Saturday service should proceed.

The financially troubled Postal Service announced last month that it would switch in August to five-day service for first-class mail and continue six-day package delivery. The government at the time was running on a temporary spending measure and postal officials invited lawmakers to spell out the way ahead in the 2013 spending bill. That sweeping funding bill was approved Thursday without new language.

Some lawmakers say a long-standing provision in the bill mandates six-day delivery. Postal authorities argue they still will have delivery over six days, just that not all mail will be delivered all six days.

Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office weighed in with an opinion that the postal agency did not have the right to unilaterally end Saturday mail.

"We strongly disagree with the GAO's legal opinion," said David Partenheimer, spokesman for the Postal Service. "The critical issue is that the Postal Service is losing $25 million per day under its existing regulatory structure."

The letter carriers union, which has strongly disagreed with the Saturday cutback plan, sided with the GAO.

"We fully expect the Postal Service's board of governors and the postmaster general to follow the law and the expressed will of Congress about maintaining six-day delivery," Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said in a statement. "We do not expect to have a legal fight."

Some lawmakers believe the agency has the responsibility to make the cutback because of it mounting red ink. Among them are Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Rep. Darrell Issa of California. The Republicans sent a letter to the postal board of governors Thursday, telling the governors to stick with their cutback plan.

"Without major, immediate restructuring actions, annual operating deficits will increase, and the Postal Service will sink much deeper into default on payments owed to taxpayers," the letter said.

The Postal Service said it expected to save $2 billion annually with the Saturday cutback. The plan accentuates one of the agency's strong points: Package delivery has increased by 14 percent since 2010, officials say, while the delivery of letters and other mail has plummeted. Email has decreased the mailing of paper letters, but online purchases have increased package shipping, forcing the Postal Service to adjust to customers' new habits.

The Postal Service lost $1.3 billion in the final three months of last year, following a nearly $16 billion loss the previous fiscal year.

Here are the average energy prices in the Pioneer Valley for the week.

These are the average energy prices in the Pioneer Valley for the week.

The city depends on the $615,131 in taxes the plant provides yearly.

Mount Tom Power Station along the Connecticut River in Holyoke. John Suchocki, The Republican  

HOLYOKE -- Mayor Alex B. Morse has asked the state for help if the coal-burning Mount Tom Power Station closes and an official said the state has a task force for just that purpose.

This comes after it was learned the plant, which has slowed operations in recent years, will be taken off line for one year in 2016.

Environmental protection groups might be welcoming the plant's slowdown, but Morse said in a March 7 letter to Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr. of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs that the city would suffer in loss of tax revenue and jobs.

The city also would face the tasks of clean-up of contaminants and redevelopment of the plant site, at the city's northernmost point near Easthampton, he said.

"As I'm sure you are aware, the plant's closure would present significant impacts to Holyoke ...," Morse wrote to Sullivan.

In November, City Treasurer Jon D. Lumbra and Chief Assessor Anthony Dulude said the plant provides $$615,131 in taxes each year.

If the plant were to close, the city conceivably would continue to get the $267,282 in taxes based on taxation of the plant's 60 acres, which is valued at $6.9 million. But the $347,848 the city gets in tax revenue from the plant's personal property and equipment, which is valued at $9 million, would drop if the plant closed, they said.

Morse requested help similar to what the state did for Salem, where a reuse study was done on the Salem Harbor Power Station, which is set for conversion to a natural-gas plant.

Sullivan is chairman of the Plant Revitalization Task Force that was formed to help communities deal with and redevelop such plant sites, spokeswoman Mary-Leah Assad said Wednesday.

"We are committed to working with communities to ensure that they have a seat at the table and that local concerns are addressed in the recommendations," Assad said.

Several groups have scheduled a public meeting to discuss the future of the plant April 3 at 7 p.m. at Holyoke Heritage State Park Visitors’ Center, 221 Appleton St.

The groups staging the meeting include Neighbor to Neighbor, Nuestras Raices, Sierra Club, Holyoke Municipal Employees of SEIU 888 and United Auto Workers 2322, according to a press release.

ISO New England accepted a proposal known as a “dynamic de-list bid” from the plant’s
owner, GDF Suez, meaning the plant will not be expected to run or to receive any payments from the Forward Capacity Market.

The Forward Capacity Market is the annual process under which ISO New England projects how much electricity to power the region three years in advance and then conducts an auction to purchase resources that will meet that demand. Electrical suppliers that are selected in the auction are then required to provide power or curtail demand when called upon by ISO New England.

Built in 1960 as a coal-burning electric power generating plant, Mount Tom Station was converted to oil-burning in 1970 and converted back to coal-burning in 1981.

It has been criticized as a polluter and blamed for worsening asthma rates in Holyoke, but officials have said it abides by state and federal emission laws.

In 2009, GDF Suez installed pollution control equipment that the company said cost $55 million.

In August, a spokesman said that the plant was running only six to eight weeks a year because of the poor economy and that it employed 25 people.

Police in Meredith, N.H., have charged a Massachusetts man with seeking to distribute about 25 pounds of marijuana in the area.

MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) — Police in Meredith, N.H., have charged a Massachusetts man with seeking to distribute about 25 pounds of marijuana in the area.

Tuan Ngoc Le (too-WAHN' ny-AHK' Lee) of Worcester, Mass., is accused of arranging to have two large parcels containing the marijuana delivered to a home he was renting in Meredith. He was being arraigned Friday.

Police learned of the pending delivery and intercepted it Thursday afternoon.

The Citizen reports (http://bit.ly/14bD0Sn) officer posed as couriers and took the packages to Le's home. He was taken into custody after receiving them and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Police said they also seized thousands of dollars of cash from the home.