Town Councilor Brian J. Griffin maintains that a letter from the Massachusetts School Building Authority backs up what he and other councilors have contended for some time.

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The Massachusetts School Building Authority has delivered a blow to Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger’s plan to appoint his own school building committee to oversee construction of the $107 million new West Springfield High School.

Neffinger earlier stated his intention to take oversight of the high school project from the city’s standing building committee, the Planning and Construction Committee, and give it to a new committee he wanted to create. The mayor had argued that taking that responsibility from the Planning and Construction Committee would give it more time to devote to its primary purpose of evaluating city buildings and making recommendations on renovations.

In a letter to Neffinger dated April 16, Holly McClanan, the authority’s associate general counsel, wrote that prior to approving the mayor’s appointments, the city must provide documentation of any actions taken by the Town Council with regard to the proposed membership of the proposed committee.

McClanan also wrote that the authority’s approval is subject to “receipt of a written certification by the Town Attorney that the role and composition of the proposed SBC is consistent with all applicable provisions of the law, including the City’s charter and ordinances. As of the date of this letter, the MSBA has not received that certification.”

In addition, McClanan wrote that the city’s town attorney advised the MSBA by a letter dated Feb. 27 that he recommended the proposed membership of the new committee be submitted to the town council for its approval. The town attorney is Simon J. Brighenti Jr.

Neffinger, who has maintained that he does not need to submit the names of the proposed members of the proposed committee to the Town Council, could not be reached for comment.

The high school building project is expected to be completed in February.

"The letter backs up everything we have been saying for some time now," Town Council member Brian J. Griffin said of himself and his colleagues on the Town Council.

Griffin said that by all accounts other than Neffinger’s the Planning and Construction Committee has done an excellent job overseeing the high school building project.

“Why would we change committees now?” Griffin asked.

Tsarnaev and his brother were subjects of a massive manhunt that began after he and his brother allegedly killed an MIT police officer late Thursday night.

By EILEEN SULLIVAN
and JAY LINDSAY

WATERTOWN, Mass. (AP) — Lifting days of anxiety for a city and a nation on edge, police captured the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect, found bloodied in a backyard boat Friday night less than 24 hours after a wild car chase and gun battle that left his older brother dead and Boston and its suburbs sealed in an extraordinary dragnet.

"We got him," Boston Mayor Tom Menino tweeted. A cheer erupted from a crowd gathered near the scene.

"CAPTURED!!!" police added later. "The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody."

During a long night of violence Thursday and into Friday, brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev killed an MIT police officer, severely wounded another lawman and hurled explosives at police in a desperate getaway attempt, authorities said.

Late Friday, less than an hour after authorities said the search for Dzhokhar had proved fruitless, they tracked down the 19-year-old college student holed up in the boat, weakened by a gunshot wound after fleeing on foot from the overnight shootout with police that left 200 spent rounds behind.

He was hospitalized in serious condition, unable to be questioned about his motives.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died in the shootout early in the day. At one point, he was run over by his younger brother in a car as he lay wounded, according to investigators.

The violent endgame unfolded four days after the bombing and just a day after the FBI released surveillance-camera images of two young men suspected of planting the pressure-cooker explosives that ripped through the crowd at the marathon finish line, killing three people and wounding more than 180.

The two men were identified by authorities and relatives as ethnic Chechens from southern Russia who had been in the U.S. for about a decade and were believed to be living in Cambridge, just outside Boston. But investigators gave no details on the motive for the attack.

President Barack Obama said the nation owes a debt of gratitude to law enforcement officials and the people of Boston for their help in the search. But he said there are many unanswered questions about the Boston bombings, including whether the two men had help from others. He urged people not to rush judgment about their motivations.

The breakthrough came when a man in a Watertown neighborhood saw blood on a boat parked in a yard and pulled back the tarp to see a man covered in blood, authorities said. The resident called 911 and when police arrived, they tried to talk the suspect into getting out of the boat, said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.

"He was not communicative," Davis said.

Instead, he said, there was an exchange of gunfire — the final volley of one of the biggest manhunts in American history.

Watertown residents who had been told in the morning to stay inside behind locked doors poured out of their homes and lined the streets to cheer police vehicles as they rolled away from the scene.

Celebratory bells rang from a church tower. Teenagers waved American flags. Drivers honked. Every time an emergency vehicle went by, people cheered loudly.

"They finally caught the jerk," said nurse Cindy Boyle. "It was scary. It was tense."

Police said three other people were taken into custody for questioning at an off-campus housing complex at the University of the Massachusetts at Dartmouth where the younger man may have lived.

"Tonight, our family applauds the entire law enforcement community for a job well done, and trust that our justice system will now do its job," said the family of 8-year-old Martin Richard, who died in the bombing.

The FBI was swamped with tips — 300,000 per minute — after the release of the surveillance-camera photos, but what role those played in the overnight clash was unclear. State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said police realized they were dealing with the bombing suspects based on what the two men told a carjacking victim during their night of crime.

The search by thousands of law enforcement officers all but paralyzed the Boston area for much of the day. Officials shut down all mass transit, including Amtrak trains to New York, advised businesses not to open, and warned close to 1 million people in the entire city and some of its suburbs to unlock their doors only for uniformed police.

Around midday, the suspects' uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., pleaded on television: "Dzhokhar, if you are alive, turn yourself in and ask for forgiveness."

Until the younger man's capture, it was looking like a grim day for police. As night fell, they announced that they were scaling back the hunt and lifting the stay-indoors order across Boston and some of its suburbs because they had come up empty-handed.

But then the break came and within a couple of hours, the four-day ordeal was over. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured about a mile from the site of the shootout that killed his brother.

Chechnya has been the scene of two wars between Russian forces and separatists since 1994, in which tens of thousands were killed in heavy Russian bombing. That spawned an Islamic insurgency that has carried out deadly bombings in Russia and the region, although not in the West.

The older brother had strong political views about the United States, said Albrecht Ammon, 18, a downstairs-apartment neighbor in Cambridge. Ammon quoted Tsarnaev as saying that the U.S. uses the Bible as "an excuse for invading other countries."

Also, the FBI interviewed the older brother at the request of a foreign government in 2011, and nothing derogatory was found, according to a federal law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official did not identify the foreign country or say why it made the request.

Authorities said the man dubbed Suspect No. 1 — the one in sunglasses and a dark baseball cap in the surveillance-camera pictures — was Tamerlan Tsarnaev, while Suspect No. 2, the one in a white baseball cap worn backward, was his younger brother.

Exactly how the long night of crime began was unclear. But police said the brothers carjacked a man in a Mercedes-Benz in Cambridge, just across the Charles River from Boston, then released him unharmed at a gas station.

They also shot to death a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer, 26-year-old Sean Collier, while he was responding to a report of a disturbance, investigators said.

The search for the Mercedes led to a chase that ended in Watertown, where authorities said the suspects threw explosive devices from the car and exchanged gunfire with police. A transit police officer, 33-year-old Richard Donohue, was shot and critically wounded, authorities said.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev somehow slipped away. He ran over his already wounded brother as he fled, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. At some point, he abandoned his car and ran away.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died at a Boston hospital after suffering what doctors said were multiple gunshot wounds and a possible blast injury.

CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.

— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 20, 2013

Suspect in custody. Officers sweeping the area. Stand by for further info.

— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 20, 2013

The brothers had built an arsenal of pipe bombs, grenades and improvised explosive devices and used some of the weapons in trying to make their getaway, said Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Watertown resident Kayla Dipaolo said she was woken up overnight by gunfire and a large explosion that sounded "like it was right next to my head ... and shook the whole house."

She said she was looking at the front door when a bullet came through the side paneling. SWAT team officers were running all over her yard, she said.

"It was very scary," she said. "There are two bullet holes in the side of my house, and by the front door there is another."

Tamerlan Tsarnaev had studied accounting as a part-time student at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston for three semesters from 2006 to 2008, the school said.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was registered as a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Students said he was on campus this week after the Boston Marathon bombing. The campus closed down Friday along with colleges around the Boston area.

The men's father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said in a telephone interview with AP from the Russian city of Makhachkala that his younger son, Dzhokhar, is "a true angel." He said his son was studying medicine.

"He is such an intelligent boy," the father said. "We expected him to come on holidays here."

The city of Cambridge announced two years ago that it had awarded a $2,500 scholarship to him. At the time, he was a senior at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School, a highly regarded public school whose alumni include Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and NBA Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing.

Tsarni, the men's uncle, said the brothers traveled here together from Russia. He called his nephews "losers" and said they had struggled to settle in the U.S. and ended up "thereby just hating everyone."

Sullivan and Associated Press writers Stephen Braun and Jack Gillum reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Mike Hill, Katie Zezima, Pat Eaton-Robb and Steve LeBlanc in Boston and Jeff Donn in Cambridge, Mass., contributed to this report.

Dr. David Schoenfeld said 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was unconscious and had so many penetrating wounds when he arrived at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center early Friday that it isn't clear which ones killed him, and a medical examiner will have to determine the cause of death.

View full size In this Feb. 17, 2010, photo, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, left, Smiles after acceping the trophy for winning the 2010 New England Golden Gloves Championship from Dr. Joseph Downes, right, in Lowell, Mass. Tsarnaev, 26, who had been known to the FBI as Suspect No. 1 in the Boston Marathon Explosions and was seen in surveillance footage in a black baseball cap, was killed overnight on Friday, April 19, 2013, officials said. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun, Julia Malakie)  

Dr. David Schoenfeld said 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was unconscious and had so many penetrating wounds when he arrived at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center early Friday that it isn't clear which ones killed him, and a medical examiner will have to determine the cause of death.

The second bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was in serious condition at the same hospital after his capture Friday night. The FBI has not allowed hospital officials to say any more about his wounds or condition.

Schoenfeld lives in the Boston suburb of Watertown and heard explosions from the shootout between the two brothers and police early Friday. He called the hospital to alert staff they likely would be getting injured people, then rushed in to coordinate preparations.

"We had three or four trauma teams in different rooms set up and ready," unsure of whether they would be treating a bombing suspect, injured police or bystanders, Schoenfeld said.

The older Tsarnaev's clothes had been cut off by emergency responders at the scene, so if he had been wearing a vest with explosives, he wasn't by the time he arrived at the hospital, the doctor said.

"From head to toe, every region of his body had injuries," he said. "His legs and arms were intact — he wasn't blown into a million pieces" — but he lost a pulse and was in cardiac arrest, meaning his heart and circulation had stopped, so CPR, or cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, was started.

Schoenfeld did not address police's assertion that Tsarnaev was run over by a car driven by his brother as he fled the gunfire.

The doctor said he couldn't discuss specific treatments in the case except to say what is usually done in such circumstances, including putting a needle in the chest to relieve pressure that can damage blood vessels, and cutting open the chest and using rib-spreaders to let doctors drain blood in the sac around the heart that can put pressure on the heart and keep it from beating.

"Once you've done all of those things ... if they don't respond there's really nothing you can do. You've exhausted the playbook," he said.

After 15 minutes of unsuccessful treatment, doctors pronounced him dead.

"We did everything we could" to try to save his life, Schoenfeld said.

How did the medical team react to treating the bombing suspect?

"There was some discussion in the emergency room about who it was. That discussion ended pretty quickly," Schoenfeld said. "It really doesn't matter who the person is. We're going to treat them as best we can."

_____

AP chief medical writer Marilynn Marchione wrote this report.

Search and rescue crews recovered the bodies several hours after the slide, which was about 600 feet wide and eight feet deep, said Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger.

The bodies of five snowboarders killed in an avalanche near Loveland Pass in Colorado has been recovered by authorities. The condition of a sixth snowboarder is not known. Google Maps  

Search and rescue crews recovered the bodies several hours after the slide, which was about 600 feet wide and eight feet deep, said Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger.

A sixth snowboarder caught in the avalanche was able to dig himself out and call for help, Krueger said. That person's condition wasn't immediately known.

The victims all had avalanche beacons, Krueger added.

Searchers from Clear Creek County, Summit County, an alpine search and rescue team and the Loveland and Arapahoe Basin ski resorts located the bodies, Krueger said.

The Colorado Department of Transportation closed U.S. 6, which crosses the Continental Divide near the scene of the avalanche, to facilitate the search. The pass is heavily traveled by skiers visiting nearby Arapahoe Basin ski resort.

The bodies were taken to the Clear Creek coroner's office. The victims' identities weren't immediately known.

Krueger said authorities were "pretty sure" the snowboarders triggered the avalanche, which he said traveled about 1,100 feet some 100 yards off U.S. 6.

The avalanche occurred on a spring weekend when many skiers and snowboarders took advantage of late season snowfall in the Rocky Mountains. At least four Colorado ski resorts reopened for the weekend after a snowstorm earlier in the week, and four others were still open for the season.

Loveland Pass, at an elevation of 11,990 feet, is popular among backcountry skiers and snowboarders, and on Saturday, Snowboard Magazine had promoted the Rocky Mountain High Backcountry Gathering there for a day of gear demonstrations and shredding.

Treacherous winter weather is not unusual on the pass, which is about 60 miles west of Denver. Skiers and snowboarders in search of fresh snow often hitchhike from lower elevations to the rocky summit above tree line. The area also is popular among photographers and tourists seeking some of the most expansive views in Colorado.

Colorado Avalanche Information Center forecaster Spencer Logan said there have been weak layers in Colorado's snowpack since early January.

"Our last series of storms made them more active again," he said. "Over the last week and a half, that area got over 18 inches of snow, so if you melted that that would be 2 inches of water, so that is a heavy load."

Lisa Clarke Devore, who was headed back to Denver from the resort, told The Associated Press she saw a fire truck and ambulance on the pass, as well two search dogs headed into the area of the slide. She said she saw several ambulances, including one towing snowmobiles, driving toward the pass.

On Thursday, a 38-year-old snowboarder died in an avalanche south of Colorado's Vail Pass. Eagle County sheriff's officials said the man and another snowboarder likely triggered the slide after a friend on a snowmobile dropped them off at the top of Avalanche Bowl.

U.S. avalanche deaths climbed steeply after 1990, averaging 24 a year, as new gear became available for backcountry travel. Until then, avalanches rarely claimed more than a handful of lives each season in records going back to 1950.

___

Associated Press writer Thomas Peipert in Denver contributed to this report.

Some media outlets have gone so far as to credit Henneberry's desire to smoke a cigarette outside his Franklin Street home for leading to the discovery of terror suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the most wanted man in America.

WATERTOWN — This is one case in which smoking may have saved lives.

When 66-year-old David Henneberry stepped outside his Watertown home at 67 Franklin St. to smoke a cigarette just after 6 p.m. Friday, he noticed the tarp covering his boat was flapping in the wind.

"He went over and saw the tarp was dislodged, and then he saw that one of the straps was hanging loose. He picked it up and saw it had been cut. He found it incredibly odd," Robert Duffy, Henneberry's stepson, told the Daily News.

Now, the unassuming man is being hailed as a hero for helping put an end to a bloody killing spree that left four victims and one presumed terrorist dead since Monday's Boston Marathon bombings.

"He lifted it up (the tarp) and saw a pool of blood, and then he saw what he thought was a body," Duffy told the New York tabloid.

The body inside the 22-foot boat turned out to be 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was seriously wounded but still alive – and still the most wanted man in America.

David Henneberry, owner of the boat that Boston Marathon bombing suspect was found hiding in, is being hailed as a hero. Daily News via Picasa  

Tsarnaev is the surviving half of the brother duo suspected of planting two bombs near the marathon's finish line that killed three people, according to authorities. The brothers went on to kill an MIT police officer and seriously wound an MBTA cop during an overnight gun battle that ended with the death of 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev around 1 a.m. Friday, investigators said.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hadn't been spotted since the shootout. But then Henneberry stepped outside his Franklin Street home shortly after Gov. Deval L. Patrick had lifted an order for Boston-area residents to stay inside their homes.

Salon.com was quick to point out that Henneberry's "nicotine craving" helped end Friday's all-day search for the teenager, who remained hospitalized in serious condition Saturday.

Henneberry, who didn't return a phone message left at his home number, has since been labeled a hero by rank-and-file citizens and various media outlets. Some have wondered what would have happened if he hadn't gone outside and noticed something wrong with the tarp on his boat.

The simple act has even spawned a Facebook page, Together We Can Help Buy Dave Henneberry A New Boat, which already is generating heavy traffic and comments praising the Watertown man. The boat was damaged by gunfire, according to reports.

Firefighters were battling a large fire that destroyed a four-story apartment building on Main Street, between Harriet and Portland streets. Multiple residents were forced from their homes.

A massive blaze at 2962-2972 Main St. displaced multiple residents from the large apartment building in Springfield's North End late Saturday night. Dave Canton, The Republican  

SPRINGFIELD — A massive fire, fanned by strong winds, destroyed a large apartment building in the 2900 block of Main Street late Saturday night, forcing dozens of residents from the four-story building between Harriet and Portland streets.

The fire was reported at about 10:15 p.m. and quickly prompted police to shut down Main Street between Harriet and Waverly streets as Springfield firefighters dumped water on the blaze.

Residents clustered along sections of Waverly Street, huddling under blankets and wiping tears from their faces. A group of small girls, some of whom were crying, approached a Springfield police officer at the corner of Main and Waverly streets to inquire about pet dogs left behind in the burning building. The officer, who towered over the girls, assured them that all residents and pets had been evacuated, but that didn't seem to placate one young girl, who claimed her pet Chihuahua was still missing.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known. By 11:30 p.m., the fire had spread from the southern end of the building to the northern end, with flames shooting from the roof. Thick, choking smoke billowed high into the sky and could be detected as far south as The Republican building at 1860 Main St., a good 15 or more blocks from the building.

The fire apparently began at 2962 Main St. and spread to adjoining 2972 Main St.

Luis Colon, 41, a resident of the building, said he was burned out of his apartment at nearby 21 Grove St. on Feb. 20, exactly two months before Saturday night's fire at 2962-2972 Main St. "It's just a mad coincidence," Colon said as he and other residents literally watched their home – and all of their possessions – go up in smoke.

"What we have is what we ran out with," said Colon, gesturing to the clothes he was wearing. "We were just trying to get back to normal and we get hit again," he said, adding that he was unsure where he would sleep Saturday night and in the days ahead.

Colon said he and some other former residents of 21 Grove St. – a three-story woodframe home about two blocks south of the fire scene – were relocated to the Main Street building and had only just begun to settle into their new home. Colon said he and others had just returned from a Saturday evening bingo fundraiser with prizes and money for victims of the February fire, but most of those items were left behind inside the burning Main Street building, he said.

"There's absolutely no luck for us. I'm a victim twice in two months," Colon said, who was watching TV inside his apartment when an upstairs neighbor banged on his door and alerted him to the fire.

A large, RV-style Red Cross vehicle established a mobile command center in a parking lot across from the fire scene. Public safety officials continuously asked spectators to back away from the fire, which one official claimed was releasing "poisonous" smoke into the air.

Some people received medical attention at the scene, but it was not immediately clear if anyone was hospitalized as a result of the fire.

A temporary shelter was being established at a church near the fire scene, according officials.

This is a developing story. More information will be posted on MassLive.com as it becomes available.

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A fire destroyed a large, horseshoe-shaped apartment complex in the 2900 block of Main Street between Waverly and Portland streets, displacing dozens of residents.

Springfield firefighters train hoses on a burning apartment building on Main Street, between Harriet and Portland streets, in the city's North End late Saturday night. (Dave Canton, The Republican)

Updates story published at 1:15 a.m. Sunday, April 21.

By CONOR BERRY and DAVE CANTON
Republican staff writers

SPRINGFIELD — A two-alarm fire in the city's North End spread through three adjoining buildings on Main and Portland streets late Saturday night, forcing at least 44 people from their homes, according to Springfield Fire Department officials, who reported no serious injuries but continued searching for possible victims early Sunday morning.

Dennis G. Leger, executive aide to fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant, said the first alarm was sounded at 10:10 p.m. after a citizen alerted police to a fire at 2964 Main St. Investigators said the fire appeared to spread from there to adjoining structures in the horseshoe-shaped complex, including 2972 Main St., a large, four-story brick apartment house between Harriet and Waverly streets.

A second alarm was issued at 10:18 p.m. and brought more equipment and firefighters to the scene, which attracted a large crowd of onlookers who congregated in a church parking lot across from 2972 Main St. and along sections of Harriet Street.

Springfield police shut down a several-block stretch of Main Street near the fire scene as firefighters dumped thousands of gallons of water on the blaze.

Displaced residents huddled under blankets nearby, some wiping tears from their faces. A group of small girls, some of whom were visibly upset, approached a police officer at the corner of Main and Waverly streets to inquire about pet dogs left behind in the burning building. The officer, who towered over the girls, assured them all residents and pets had been evacuated, but that didn't seem to placate one young girl, who claimed her pet Chihuahua was still missing.

Leger said a pit bull puppy was saved by firefighters as they searched the burning building.

Luis Colon, 41, a resident of the apartment complex, said he was burned out of his apartment at nearby 21 Grove St. on Feb. 20, exactly two months before the Main Street blaze. "It's just a mad coincidence," Colon said as he and other residents literally watched their home – and all of their possessions – go up in smoke.

"What we have is what we ran out with," said Colon, gesturing to the clothes on his body. "We were just trying to get back to normal and we get hit again," he said, adding that he was unsure where he would stay now that he's lost everything.

Colon said he and some other former residents of 21 Grove St. – a three-story, wood-frame apartment building just a couple of blocks from Saturday's fire scene – relocated to the Main Street building and were just beginning to settle into their new apartments when the fire broke out. Colon said he had just returned home from a Saturday evening bingo fundraiser with prizes and money for victims of the February fire, but most of those items were left inside the burning building on Main Street.

"There's absolutely no luck for us. I'm a victim twice in two months," said Colon, who was watching TV inside his apartment when an upstairs neighbor banged on his door and warned him about the fire.

Leger said the incident remains under investigation by the Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad. He said the blaze is considered suspicious because at least three separate fires have been extinguished over the past month within close proximity of Saturday's fire scene.

Colon said one more fire and he's moving from Massachusetts. "Three times and I'm out," he said.

Victims were being directed to a temporary shelter established at Blessed Sacrament Parish, 27 Waverly St., formerly known as St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church. The Rev. Juan F. Garcia, pastor of Blessed Sacrament, said he received a call from the Rev. Gary M. Dailey, a chaplain for the Springfield Fire Department, who asked the pastor to accommodate fire victims. "So I went over and opened the church for them," Garcia said.

Asked how many people had spent the night at Blessed Sacrament, Garcia replied, "Dozens – between the women, the children and the men."

The Red Cross is working to help displaced tenants find housing and other necessities, according to officials.

MAP OF NORTH END FIRE SCENE:

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The races attract paddling enthusiasts of varying skill levels, with most saying they enjoy the sheer fun of the annual rite of spring.

A racer paddles his hull down the Westfield River toward Russell Saturday after competing in the Westfield River Whitewater Races, which began in Huntington. Manon Mirabelli  

HUNTINGTON – What began in 1953 as a friendly wager in return for bragging rights and two cases of beer is now an annual tradition that Saturday attracted throngs of paddlers to the Westfield River to celebrate 60 years of whitewater racing.

The oldest continuously run whitewater races in the country are a local institution that have become a rite of spring and passage into summer for competitors who put their hulls in the cold waters of the Westfield River, paddling to overall and personal victories.

For people like Eric E. Main, of Middlefield, and father and daughter Henry P. and Jena L. Igel, of Huntington, the race is an event they look forward to each year.

Jena Igel said her uncle was one of the early organizers of the race, and taking a boat onto the Westfield River in April is her favorite thing to do – especially this year, with higher water levels from winter's snow melt and Friday night's heavy rainfall.

"I've been watching this since I was a kid," she said. "I never thought I wouldn't do it. It's my favorite thing all year, and the water level was good today. There was no dragging on rocks. Some years we even had to get out and walk with it to deeper water."

Brian J. Battles, a race official stationed at the finish line, said there were no problems with boats getting stuck along the race route, and he credited Friday's gift of rain for that advantage. "Mother Nature helped us out with that one," he said. "The wind is being kind today, too."

Main, who had just finished the novice run and was busy loading his canoe onto a truck for another run, also said the rain raised the river level enough to make the race more competitive. "We bettered our time this year over last by far," he said. "We almost flipped once, and it was touch-and-go there in a couple of spots."

The event may have origins in humility, but today it includes three separate races in novice, expert and junior/senior categories racing under open class, women's and mixed divisions, cash prizes from $50 to $500, and an awards ceremony at Strathmore Park in Huntington.

Organizers say expert paddlers start at Knightville Dam, while novices start at the state Department of Transportation Public Works yard, both in Huntington. The finish is on Route 20 in Russell.

Battles says many competitors start in the novice race and go back to the start to take a second run in the expert category, as has been the case with the extended Main family. "A lot of people with more than one child will make the first run with one, then go back and do it again with another," he said.

The event is also referred to as the Westfield River Wildwater Races, with race organizer the Westfield River Canoe Club referring to the event by both names on the race website.

Questions about the interrogation of Bomber suspect and possible charges against him are raised

Investigators work near the location where the previous night a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings was arrested, Saturday, April 20, 2013, in Watertown, Mass. Police captured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect, in a backyard boat after a wild car chase and gun battle earlier in the day left his older brother dead. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) AP Photo  

What Tsarnaev will say and when are unclear. Hhe remained in serious condition and apparently in no shape for interrogation after being pulled bloody and wounded from a tarp-covered boat in a Watertown backyard. The capture came at the end of a tense Friday day that began with his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, dying in a gunbattle with police.

U.S. officials said an elite interrogation team would question the Massachusetts college student without reading him his Miranda rights, something that is allowed on a limited basis when the public may be in immediate danger, such as instances in which bombs are planted and ready to go off.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said the legal exception applies only when there is a continued threat to public safety and is "not an open-ended exception" to the Miranda rule, which guarantees the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.

The federal public defender's office in Massachusetts said it has agreed to represent Tsarnaev once he is charged. Miriam Conrad, public defender for Massachusetts, said he should have a lawyer appointed as soon as possible because there are "serious issues regarding possible interrogation."

There was no immediate word on when Tsarnaev might be charged and what those charges would be. The twin bombings killed three people and wounded more than 180.

The most serious charge available to federal prosecutors would be the use of a weapon of mass destruction to kill people, which carries a possible death sentence. Massachusetts does not have the death penalty.

President Barack Obama said there are many unanswered questions about the bombing, including whether the Tsarnaev brothers - ethnic Chechens from southern Russia who had been in the U.S. for about a decade and lived in the Boston area - had help from others. The president urged people not to rush judgment about their motivations.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Saturday afternoon that Tsarnaev was in serious but stable condition and was probably unable to communicate. Tsarnaev was at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where 11 victims of the bombing were still being treated.

"I, and I think all of the law enforcement officials, are hoping for a host of reasons the suspect survives," the governor said after a ceremony at Fenway Park to honor the victims and survivors of the attack. "We have a million questions, and those questions need to be answered."

The all-day manhunt Friday brought the Boston area to a near standstill and put people on edge across the metropolitan area.

The break came around nightfall when a homeowner in Watertown saw blood on his boat, pulled back the tarp and saw a bloody Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding inside, police said. After an exchange of gunfire, he was seized and taken away in an ambulance.

Raucous celebrations erupted in and around Boston, with chants of "USA! USA!" Residents flooded the streets in relief four days after the two pressure-cooker bombs packed with nails and other shrapnel went off.

Michael Spellman said he bought tickets to Saturday's Red Sox game at Fenway Park to help send a message to the bombers.

"They're not going to stop us from doing things we love to do," he said, sitting a few rows behind home plate. "We're not going to live in fear."

During the long night of violence leading up to the capture, the Tsarnaev brothers killed an MIT police officer, severely wounded another lawman and took part in a furious shootout and car chase in which they hurled explosives at police from a large homemade arsenal, authorities said.

"We're in a gunfight, a serious gunfight. Rounds are going and then all of the sudden they see something being thrown at them and there's a huge explosion," Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau said Saturday of the melee.

The chief said one of the explosives was the same type used during the Boston Marathon attack, and authorities later recovered a pressure cooker lid that had embedded in a car down the street. He said the suspects also tossed two grenades before Tamerlan ran out of ammunition and police tackled him.

But while handcuffing him, officers had to dive out of the way as Dzhokhar drove the carjacked Mercedes at them, Deveau said. The sport utility vehicle dragged Tamerlan's body down the block, he said. Police initially tracked the escaped suspect by a blood trail he left behind a house after abandoning the Mercedes, negotiating his surrender hours later after an area resident saw blood and found the suspect huddled in his boat.

Chechnya, where the Tsarnaev family has roots, has been the scene of two wars between Russian forces and separatists since 1994. That spawned an Islamic insurgency that has carried out deadly bombings in Russia and the region, although not in the West.

Investigators have not offered a motive for the Boston attack. But in interviews with officials and those who knew the Tsarnaevs, a picture has emerged of the older one as someone embittered toward the U.S., increasingly vehement in his Muslim faith and influential over his younger brother.

The Russian FSB intelligence service told the FBI in 2011 about information that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a follower of radical Islam, two law enforcement officials said Saturday.

According to an FBI news release, a foreign government said that Tamerlan Tsarnaev appeared to be strong believer and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the U.S. for travel to the Russian region to join unspecified underground groups.

The FBI did not name the foreign government, but the two officials said it was Russia. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the matter publicly.

The FBI said that in response, it interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev and relatives, and did not find any domestic or foreign terrorism activity. The bureau said it looked into such things as his telephone and online activity, his travels and his associations with others.

An uncle of the Tsarnaev brothers said he had a falling-out with Tamerlan over the man's increased commitment to Islam.

Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., said Tamerlan told him in a 2009 phone conversation that he had chosen "God's business" over work or school. Tsarni said he then contacted a family friend who told him Tsarnaev had been influenced by a recent convert to Islam.

Tsarni said his relationship with his nephew basically ended after that call.

As for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, "he's been absolutely wasted by his older brother. I mean, he used him. He used him for whatever he's done," Tsarni said.

Albrecht Ammon, a downstairs-apartment neighbor of Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Cambridge, said in an interview that the older brother had strong political views about the United States. Ammon quoted Tsarnaev as saying that the U.S. uses the Bible as "an excuse for invading other countries."

Tamerlan Tsarnaev studied accounting as a part-time student at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston for three semesters from 2006 to 2008, the school said. He was married with a young daughter. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

As of Saturday, more than 50 victims of the bombing remained hospitalized, three in critical condition.

___

Associated Press writers Denise Lavoie and Steve Peoples in Boston; Mike Hill in Watertown, Mass.; Colleen Long in New York; Pete Yost in Washington; Eric Tucker in Montgomery Village, Md.; and AP Sports Writer Jimmy Golen in Boston contributed to this report.

The building commissioner expects options for the deteriorating building to become clearer in the next week.

Essex House, 400 High St., downtown Holyoke. Greg Saulmon, The Republican  

HOLYOKE -- Officials continue to consider what to do with the Essex House at 400 High St., a former hotel closed for a few decades and a concern now because bricks have been breaking off and falling onto nearby buildings.

"We have been looking into a multitude of options. We will be discussing the
property again on Monday to compare these options with all things considered," Building Commissioner Damian J. Cote wrote in an email Friday.

A short-term step involves having a structural engineer devise a plan to stabilize the problem areas of the building, which was built in 1880 and is scheduled for a foreclosure hearing in Land Court on April 23, officials have said.

Olver was an elected official for 44 years.

John W. Olver reacts to remarks during a symposium in his honor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in November. Don Treeger, The Republican  

HOLYOKE -- The Holyoke Democratic Committee will honor retired Congressman John W. Olver April 27 at 10:30 a.m. at the Yankee Pedlar Inn at Beech and Northampton streets.

Olver, a Democrat from Amherst who represented the Paper City, retired in January after 44 years in elected office.

For more information about the brunch email parcherduffy@gmail.com or call (413) 262-9404.

The fundraising totals from all of the Republican candidates are low compared to the amounts raised by the Democratic candidates for Senate.

Private equity investor Gabriel Gomez raised more money than State Rep. Daniel Winslow or former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan in the race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Gomez has also put a significant amount of his own money into his campaign. But all of the GOP candidates are reporting fundraising totals that lag far behind their Democratic opponents, U.S. Reps. Edward Markey and Stephen Lynch.

Gomez’s FEC report is not yet available on the FEC website, but the information was provided by his campaign. The campaign said Gomez raised $582,000 and loaned his campaign $600,000. Gomez has spent $682,000 on his campaign so far, leaving him with $500,000 left in the bank as of April 10. Gomez is the wealthiest of the Senate candidates, having worked in private equity for more than a decade. He earned a salary and bonus of nearly $1 million in a little over a year, according to a recent financial disclosure. Gomez was the first of the GOP candidates to air television advertising.

In his FEC report, Winslow reported raising $244,000 (including $8,500 he donated to himself) and loaning his campaign $150,000. He spent $252,000 and had $142,000 left in the bank as of April 10.

Sullivan reported raising $174,000. He did not loan his campaign any money. He has spent $77,000 and has $96,000 left in the bank for the final weeks of the campaign.

All of those sums are peanuts compared to the sums raised by the Democrats. Markey raised $4.7 million in the current election cycle, which he added to the $3.1 million that he had left over from his previous U.S. House campaign committee. Lynch raised $1.5 million this election cycle, which he added to $743,000 from his existing campaign committee.

A new poll released Saturday night by The Republican/MassLive.com found Markey with a strong lead in the Democratic primary, and Sullivan and Gomez battling for the top spot in the Republican race. The general election will be held June 25.

Law enforcement officials arrested two men at a housing complex near the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, apparently on immigration-relation charges. The men were said to be classmates of Tsarnaev.

Two men from a housing complex connected with Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have been arrested, the police said.

The Associated Press reported Friday that two males and a female were taken into custody for questioning at an off-campus housing complex at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Tsarnaev was a student at the school, and police say he may have lived at or been affiliated with that building, according to the Associated Press.

Officer John Indio of the New Bedford police told MassLive.com on Sunday that the three individuals were released. However, law enforcement then went back and arrested the two males.

Indio said he believes the men were friends with Tsarnaev and classmates of his at UMass Dartmouth. A UMass Dartmouth official confirmed that the men had been students in the past. He was unable to provide information about why they left the university or their current status.

Indio said the New Bedford police did not have any information about the nature of the charges, the names of the two men or what connection, if any, they had to the Boston Marathon bombing case.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation referred calls to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, indicating that the charges may have been immigration-related. A spokesman from ICE did not immediately return a call. The two bombing suspects, Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were Chechen immigrants.

The news site South Coast Today, the website of the New Bedford Standard-Times, reported that the two men were arrested Saturday afternoon at the Hidden Brook apartment complex in New Bedford by agents wearing FBI and Department of Homeland Security jackets.

UMass Dartmouth reopened on Sunday. The campus had been evacuated on Friday and remained closed on Saturday.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested Friday night after he and his brother allegedly killed an MIT police officer. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a firefight early Friday morning. A day-long manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev put much of the Boston area under lockdown.

In the first Western New England University Polling Institute survey of the 2013 special U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, Democrat Ed Markey was found to hold a vulnerable lead over his competitors. Republican candidate Gabriel Gomez appeared to be catching up to Michael Sullivan, but all GOP candidates were behind the Democrats in hypotheritcal general election match-ups.

In the first Western New England University Polling Institute survey of the 2013 special U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, Democrat Ed Markey was found to hold a vulnerable lead over his competitors. Republican candidate Gabriel Gomez appeared to be catching up to Michael Sullivan, but all GOP candidates were behind the Democrats in hypothetical general election match-ups.

Read the full story here.

The press release and complete data tables can be downloaded below.

Massachusetts Senate race poll: Ed Markey holds vulnerable lead as Gabriel Gomez gives Michael Sullivan run...

Police provided scant details about an apparent shooting in the city's Six Corners neighborhood that brought an unidentified man to the hospital for treatment of a graze wound to the temple.

A man showed up at a city hospital seeking treatment for an apparent gunshot wound Saturday afternoon, but overnight crime activity netted just one arrest, according to Springfield Police Lt. Robert Moynihan. Conor Berry, The Republican  

SPRINGFIELD — A man who claimed he was shot in the Six Corners neighborhood showed up at a city hospital seeking treatment for an apparent gunshot wound Saturday afternoon, according to police reports.

Springfield Police Lt. Robert Moynihan had no information about the incident, which was reported at 4:08 p.m. Initial reports indicated the male, whose name and age were unavailable, arrived on his own at Baystate Medical Center with an apparent graze wound to the right temple.

A detective investigating the incident asked if the shooting coincided with any Saturday ShotSpotter activations from the city's automated gunfire-detection system, and an official verified a 1 p.m. activation on Pine Street. It was unclear if the man's injury was related to that incident.

City police responded to several other ShotSpotter activations Saturday, but none resulted in any known victims and some were deemed false alarms, according to officials. Overall, Moynihan said, it was a quiet night with only one arrest.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Margaret Welch  

Margaret "Peggy" M. (Dodge) Welch, 76, of West Springfield, passed away on Thursday. She was born in Westfield, spent her early years in the East Forest Park section of Springfield and moved to West Springfield in 1950. She was a graduate of West Springfield High School Class of 1954. She worked at the West Springfield Town Hall in the Town Clerk's office, served on the West Springfield Board of Registrars and was active in Democratic town politics for years. She was an avid candlepin bowler and played for years in leagues at the former Elm Street Bowl and later at the Agawam Bowl.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Doty, Carol Anne
  



• 
  Dygon, Jennie S.
  



• 
  Geiger, Louise T.
  



• 
  Gregoire, Claire Ann
  



• 
  Gumlaw, Lorrie-Ann
  



• 
  Kolodziey, Delphia J.
  



• 
  Lance, Korleen L.
  



• 
  Lefebvre, Millie
  



• 
  Mitchell, Hugh
  



• 
  Page, Eugene E.
  



• 
  Pashko, Thomas
  



• 
  Rogers, Elizabeth
  



• 
  Rosenthal, Wendy L.
  



• 
  Skorka Sr., Francis M.
  



• 
  Stonskas, Loretta B.
  



• 
  Trzeciak, Gerda M.
  



• 
  Walsh, Agnes T.
  



• 
  Welch, Margaret M.
  



• 
  Wood, Irmgard L.
  



• 
  Zwirecki, Mildred M.
  

Investigators believe the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing were likely planning other attacks based on the cache of weapons uncovered, the city's police commissioner said Sunday.

WASHINGTON — Investigators believe the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing were likely planning other attacks based on the cache of weapons uncovered, the city's police commissioner said Sunday.

Commissioner Ed Davis told CBS' "Face the Nation" that authorities found an arsenal of homemade explosives after a gun battle between police and the suspects in the Boston suburb of Watertown early Friday.

"We have reason to believe, based upon the evidence that was found at that scene — the explosions, the explosive ordnance that was unexploded and the firepower that they had — that they were going to attack other individuals," Davis said. "That's my belief at this point."

One suspect, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was fatally wounded in the gun battle, and his brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar, escaped, authorities said. The two threw explosive devices at police in their getaway attempt, authorities said.

"There were over 250 rounds of extended ammunition that was found at the scene. This was a five- to 10-minute gun battle that occurred there, punctuated by loud explosions," Davis said, adding that the explosive devices were homemade.

The scene was loaded with unexploded bombs, and authorities had to alert arriving officers to them and clear the scene, Davis said. One improvised explosive device was found in the Mercedes the brothers are accused of carjacking, he said.

"This was as dangerous as it gets in urban policing," Davis said.

He said on "Fox News Sunday" that authorities cannot be positive there aren't more explosives that haven't been found. But the people of Boston are safe, he said.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured Friday evening while hiding in a boat in Watertown after a massive manhunt. He is hospitalized in serious condition and has been unable to communicate with authorities.

Davis said shots were fired from the boat, but investigators haven't yet determined where the gunfire was aimed.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is tracing the weapons to try to determine how they were obtained by the suspects.

A new poll conducted by the Western New England University Polling Institute is concluding that while Democratic Senate hopeful and Congressman Ed Markey is the "frontrunner" he is perceived to be, Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch has solid support from unenrolled voters in Massachusetts.

---

Voter Preferences in the April 30 U.S. Senate Primary Election

Likely Democratic Primary Voters
• Ed Markey- 44 percent
• Stephen Lynch - 34 percent
• Undecided- 21 percent
• Might Change Mind - 36 percent
• Margin of Error for sample of 270 = +/-6 percentage points
Likely Republican Primary Voters
• Gabriel Gomez- 33 percent
• Michael Sullivan - 27 percent
• Dan Winslow- 9 percent
• Undecided - 30 percent
• Might Change Mind- 59 percent
• Margin of Error for sample of 128 = +/-9 percentage points
Satisfaction with the Field of Candidates
• Very Satisfied- 18 percent
• Somewhat Satisfied - 50 percent
• Not Very Satisfied- 15 percent
• Don't Know/Refused - 12 percent
• Margin of Error for sample of 480 likely general election voters= +/-4.5 percentage points

---

SPRINGFIELD — A new poll conducted by the Western New England University Polling Institute is concluding that while U.S. Senate hopeful and Congressman Edward Markey, D-Mass., is the special election front-runner he is perceived to be, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch may be the Democrat best positioned to defeat any of the Republican candidates in the general election.

And while GOP candidate Michael Sullivan is slightly behind Cohasset businessman Gabriel Gomez, according to the poll, both men hold sizable leads over Republican state Rep. Daniel Winslow.

The survey, conducted by the university's polling institute through a partnership with The Republican/MassLive.com and CBS-3 Springfield, also determined that after eight days of polling, there are enough undecided voters in the race to sway its conclusion beyond what the current data show.

Markey, who emerged early as the Democratic Party's preferred U.S. Senate candidate, holds a 10-point lead over Lynch among likely Democratic primary voters. Within his own party, the lead increases by 10 points, as he bests Lynch 49 to 29 percent.

Days after John Kerry, now the secretary of state, was confirmed to the position in President Barack Obama's administration, Kerry endorsed Markey, who's served in Congress since 1976. Markey also quickly landed endorsements from high-profile Democrats including Victoria Kennedy, the widow of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who represented the commonwealth in the Senate for nearly 50 years until his death in 2009.

While Markey also boasted support from a number of unions this election season, Lynch has emerged as a favorite among organized laborers who have a history of helping turn out the vote in Massachusetts elections.

04.08.2013 | LOWELL -- Democratic hopefuls for the U.S. Senate, Reps. Stephen Lynch, left, and Edward Markey participate in a debate at UMass Lowell. On Tuesday, April 23, they will square off in Springfield at a sold-out debate which will air on local TV stations and stream live on MassLive.com. (AP Photo by Christopher Evans)

"I think he'll be a strong voice for Massachusetts," said David Colton, a Harwich resident, Lynch supporter and member of the International Association of Firefighters union. "His close ties to labor and history of supporting working families are the reasons I'm supporting him in the election."

And despite Markey's primary lead overall and within the party, Lynch holds a 6-point lead among independent voters, 41-35 percent over his congressional colleague. That level of popularity and the fact that 21 percent of likely Democratic primary voters are still undecided indicates that the former ironworker could still pull ahead and topple Markey on April 30.

But some voters, like Democrat Julie Seeger of Boston, think Lynch is too conservative. She said that the South Boston native's stance on some social issues and his voting record make him a hard sell to Democrats who campaigned hard for Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who just won her position in November.

"I'm still upset that Stephen Lynch voted against the (president's) health care reforms. To me, that makes him seem too hardline," Seeger said. "I know the bill wasn't what everyone wanted but you have to start somewhere. I just don't think he knows what it takes to move this ship."

Seeger said that although she plans on voting for Markey, she worries that a "more charismatic" Republican could defeat him if the stars aligned, as they did for former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown when he pulled what's arguably the biggest political upset in the state's history in 2010.

In that special U.S. Senate election following Kennedy's death, Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley ran a so-called "front-runner's campaign." While Coakley entertained limited public appearances and media interviews, Brown crisscrossed the state and made an impact with the independent voters.

And on election day, to Coakley and the party's surprise, she ended up losing the election to Brown, who was then a relatively unknown state senator.

In the current election cycle, Markey has been criticized for running a campaign reminiscent of Coakley's 2010 effort.

Design by Robert Rich

In hypothetical match-ups for the general election, both Democrats fare better than their Republican counterparts, although the numbers indicate Lynch is more likely to defeat any GOP Senate hopefuls.

When Markey is placed against any of the Republican challengers, he leads by a margin of 15 to 19 percentage points. But when Lynch is placed against the Republican challengers, he leads by a margin of 32 to 36 percentage points.

"Markey has a comfortable lead over Lynch, but there is no doubt that Lynch is the stronger Democratic candidate in the general election," said Tim Vercellotti, professor of political science and director of the Polling Institute at Western New England University. "When placed in hypothetical general election match-ups, Markey has single-digit leads (over Republican candidates) with unenrolled voters but Lynch leads among independents 2-to-1."

In Massachusetts, independent, or unenrolled, voters, who can vote in either party's primary, constitute 52 percent of the electorate, making them a prize among political candidates.

The survey also found that Lynch is managing to attract support from up to 25 percent of Republican voters depending on the match-up. Markey draws support from between 9 and 13 percent of Republicans depending on the opponent.

Among likely Republican primary voters, which was a relatively small sample in the survey, the poll's results placed Gomez over Sullivan and Winslow, with the candidates respectively pulling support from 33, 27 and 9 percent of those polled.

From left, Republican candidates for U.S. Senate, state Rep. Daniel Winslow, R-Norfolk, former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez and ex-U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan participate in a debate at CityStage in downtown Springfield on March 28, 2013. (Staff photo by Dave Roback)

Among voters in the Republican Party, Gomez remained the most popular, although among independent voters, the two candidates were tied at 30 percent. Internal polling the Gomez campaign released in early April also projected the former Navy SEAL coming in neck-and-neck with Sullivan, who is also the ex-interim director of the ATF.

But Vercellotti cautioned about drawing hardline conclusions about the Republican candidates' standings since the sample size was only 128 people strong.

"Because we gave people the choice of which primary they were going to vote in, few people chose the Republican primary," he said. "But it really does look like a two-man race unless there is some huge swing toward Winslow in the next 10 days."

And he said the survey also provides evidence that the Republican race may be more unsettled than the Democratic contest. Of the likely Republican primary voters who said they prefer a specific candidate, 59 percent said they might change their mind before the primary.

"Voters say they have made choices for the Republican primary, but for many voters those preferences are not strongly held," Vercellotti said.

Measures of name recognition and favorability found that among the 480 voters who said they are likely to participate in the June 25 general election, more than 60 percent said they had not heard of the Republican candidates or could not offer an opinion about them.

Even among likely voters in the Republican primary, about half had not heard of or could not offer an opinion about the Republican candidates.

Although Lynch and Markey are not universally known, their name recognition scores were higher, as only 16 percent of those polled said they didn't know the Democratic candidates or couldn't offer an opinion about them.

Among likely voters in the general election, 41 percent held a favorable view of Lynch and 18 percent held an unfavorable view.

Markey has a favorable-unfavorable rating of 39 percent to 24 percent among likely general election voters, and 55 percent to 15 percent among likely Democratic primary voters.

According to the poll, likely general election voters overwhelmingly say that a Democrat will become the next U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Of those surveyed, 38 percent said they believe Markey will win while 15 percent said it will be Lynch. Gomez, Sullivan and Winslow respectively pulled a forecast win from three, two and one percent of respondents. But, as is the case with other questions in this special election, 37 percent said they just don't have a prediction at this point.

The Western New England University poll surveyed 582 adults ages 18 and older drawn from across Massachusetts using random-digit-dialing. The survey took place from April 11-18, and carries the following margins of error:

• The margin of error for the 480 general election likely voters is + / - 4.5 percentage points.
• The margin of error for the 270 likely Democratic primary voters is +/- 6 percentage points.
• The margin of error for the 128 likely Republican primary voters is +/-9 percentage points.

The full data set and associated press release will be distributed by Western New England University on Sunday morning. It is also available for review and download here.

Sunday evening on CBS3 and MassLive.com and on Monday in The Republican, we will analyze data looking at what voters say are the most important issues, and how that has changed from the 2012 Senate race in Massachusetts.

The American Civil Liberties Union and a federal public defender have raised concerns about investigators' plan to question Tsarnaev without reading him his Miranda rights.

BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren says federal prosecutors need to "find the right balance" in deciding whether to read Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights.

Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor, spoke to reporters Sunday during a visit to a makeshift memorial to the attack victims a few blocks from the Marathon finish line.

The American Civil Liberties Union and a federal public defender have raised concerns about investigators' plan to question Tsarnaev without reading him his Miranda rights. U.S. officials say that is allowed to do that on a limited basis when the public may be in immediate danger.

Warren, a freshman Democrat, said the Justice Department is pursuing the twin interests of protecting public safety and bringing "those who did this heinous act to justice."

Throwing his support behind Gomez, a former Navy SEAL and businessman from Cohasset, Weld, the state's 68th governor, said that Gomez's story and stance on a number of issues appealed to him.

Coming off a weekend where a statewide new poll showed him running strong in the Republican primary, GOP U.S. Senate hopeful Gabriel Gomez has landed an endorsement from former Gov. William Weld.

Throwing his support behind Gomez, a former Navy SEAL and businessman from Cohasset, Weld, the state's 68th governor, said that Gomez's story and stance on a number of issues appealed to him.

“After getting to know Gabriel and watching his campaign it is clear to me he is exactly the new American leader that this state needs in the Senate. As a son of immigrants, a Navy SEAL and a successful businessman, Gabriel has a unique set of experiences and skills that will bring an outsider’s perspective to Washington D.C." Weld said in a statement. "We need a fiscal conservative who is talking about solutions for getting our economy back on track and moving the country forward. This primary has three excellent candidates, but Gabriel’s common-sense ideas and remarkable leadership make him the obvious choice for those that believe deeply in the need for a big tent Republican Party."

Over the weekend, a poll conducted by the Western New England University Polling Institute for The Republican/MassLive.com and CBS-3 Springfield concluded that Gomez was running close to former U.S. Attorney and Senate hopeful Michael Sullivan. Both men were found to hold sizable leads over Republican state Rep. Daniel Winslow.

Among likely Republican primary voters, which was a relatively small sample in the survey, the poll's results placed Gomez over Sullivan and Winslow, with the candidates respectively pulling support from 33, 27 and 9 percent of those polled.

Among voters in the Republican Party, Gomez remained the most popular, although among independent voters, the two candidates were tied at 30 percent. Internal polling the Gomez campaign released in early April also projected the former Navy SEAL coming in neck-and-neck with Sullivan, who is also the ex-interim director of the ATF.

In accepting the endorsement from Weld, who supported Republican Scott Brown in his 2012 battle against Elizabeth Warren, Gomez said that he, like Brown, plans to work with senators in both parties if elected.

“I am honored to receive the endorsement from one of the most respected and trusted voices in the state,” Gomez said in a statement. "Governor Weld is a fiscal conservative who has cut taxes and balanced budgets. I admire his independence, character and ability to work across the aisle. I am thrilled to have his advice and support as we take our campaign across the state and onto the U.S. Senate."

The WNE poll released this weekend also showed that all three Republican Senate candidates are suffering from low name recognition. In consideration of that fact, which was known before the latest survey, the trio is expected to make their rounds across the state leading up to the primary on April 30.