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New England rivers polluted with billions of gallons of sewage, contaminated storm water annually

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Massachusetts, the most populous New England state, produces the most of these "combined sewer overflows," despite decades of investment in sewage systems in Boston and other municipalities.

By DOUG STRUCK
New England Center for Investigative Reporting


Billions of gallons of raw sewage and contaminated stormwater surge every year into the waterways and onto the streets of New England, as a 40-year-old pledge to clean America’s lakes, rivers and streams remains unfulfilled.

That is the conclusion of a six-month inquiry by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting – the first comprehensive look at where, how often and how much sewage flows into New England waterways, and the first to map the peril.

“I’m certain the general population is unaware that raw sewage is being discharged to their streets and rivers,” said the executive director of the Mystic River Watershed Association, Ekongkar Singh Khalsa. “I’ve walked around Wellesley or Newton after a storm, and suggested people should not let their dog walk on this. They thought I was mad.”

Stormwater, burst pipes and antiquated infrastructure turn manholes into geysers and basements into fetid pools of sludge – all due to accidental overflows. But the largest assault on our waterways is a design fault hidden underground: old sewage systems that mix storm runoff with raw sewage and propel the contaminated combination, untreated, into rivers, streams, harbors and bays.

Massachusetts, the most populous New England state, produces the most of these "combined sewer overflows," despite decades of investment in sewage systems in Boston and other municipalities. In 2011, approximately 2.8 billion gallons of sewage water spilled through 181 pipes throughout the state. The NECIR investigation determined more than 7 billion gallons spewed into waterways across New England, the first such compilation of an annual total.

Connecticut discharged about 1.5 billion gallons through 125 active “outfall” pipes, while Maine and Rhode Island put more than 1 billion gallons into their waterways. These discharges send contamination levels soaring after rainfalls, closing beaches and prompting bans on shellfishing.

The map at right shows sewage discharge pipes in Massachusetts →

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has identified 772 communities across the country that routinely discharge sewage into water. The NECIR investigation found 65 of those towns and municipalities in New England had sewage overflows through 450 pipes overwhelmed by wet weather in 2011, the latest year for which data was obtainable from most states.

The Clean Water Act, passed at the peak of environmental optimism in 1972, dictated that the nation stop polluting its waters by 1985. Environmental experts say striking progress has been made, though much still needs to be done.

In New England, Boston Harbor and the Charles River are national symbols of how rescued waterways can become jewels of development and civic pride. Hartford embraced the cleaned-up Connecticut River with a popular park system on the once-shabby waterfront. Rhode Island is rejuvenating the sewage-crippled Narragansett Bay. Fish are returning to Maine’s Androscoggin River, once so foul and foamy the oxygen level reached zero.

But a review of the sewage system records for the region’s six states by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting shows how short we have fallen from the ultimate goal to fully stop polluting New England’s waterways. In 2011, sewage system operators in New England reported more than 7,700 instances when raw sewage, mixed with dirty stormwater, bypassed treatment facilities and was dumped into rivers, bays and the ocean.

Although the New England states have spent billions on new sewage systems, often under court order, each state still has regular – sometimes massive – discharges of contaminated water.

“The more intense the storm, the worse the quality of the stormwater pipes,” said Roger Frymire, 56, a retired Cambridge software designer who has spent 17 years kayaking, canoeing and wading the Charles River and other waterways to get water quality samples.

“I started because every time I would launch my canoe, no matter if I went upstream or downstream, I’d smell sewage. I got sick of it,” he recalled.

Because the sewage is diluted and disperses, regional health authorities say it is difficult to definitively link any particular instances of disease or infection to these discharges. But sewage carries pathogens – bacteria, parasites and viruses – as well as chemical toxins. The pathogens can cause infections, dysentery, and potentially even cholera. For high risk populations – children, the elderly and those with immunity – the result could be serious, even deadly.

041813_sewage_outflow.JPGDischarge pipes like this one north of Springfield's Memorial Bridge on the Connecticut River are releasing millions of gallons of sewage into the river annually. 

An often-cited EPA estimate from 2004 concluded between 1.8 and 3.5 million Americans get sick annually from recreational contact with sewage-contaminated waters.

Health authorities in Massachusetts closed public swimming beaches 915 times in 2011 because of high bacteria from stormwater runoffs and sewage overflows, an act echoed by other coastal states.

In addition to beaches, coastal states regularly ban shellfishing because of pollution. Rhode Island, fearing sewage-born bacteria, routinely closes 11,000 acres of shellfishing when it receives a half-inch of rain or more. Maine’s Department of Natural Resources lists 105 shellfishing areas closed this winter.

The problem persists because the goals of the Clean Water Act turned out to be far more costly than expected. The law was born in the blush of environmentalism that produced the first Earth Day, the Clean Air Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency, all in 1970, and laws on coastal zone management, marine mammal protection, insecticides and the Clean Water Act in 1972.

When the Clean Water Act was passed, two-thirds of the country’s lakes and rivers were unfit for swimming, according to 2002 congressional testimony. Today, that has been halved. The EPA estimates the federal government spent $61 billion on sewage treatment systems from 1972 to 1995.

The benefits are visible. The Charles River “really ran in colors” in the mid-1960s because animal body parts were dumped in the water from slaughterhouses, said Bob Zimmerman, executive director of the Charles River Watershed Association. Now, after an expenditure of $79 million, the Charles is now called the country’s “cleanest urban river,” Zimmerman said.

Boston Harbor was a cesspool four decades ago. After an expenditure of $5.5 billion dollars, construction of a new treatment plant on Deer Island in 1995 and a massive underground tunnel in 2011, the harbor is much cleaner. Nitrogen overloads have plunged by 50 percent, oxygen has increased, and the sea grasses that once coated the harbor floor are returning, according to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

“There’s no question the Clean Water Act has improved water quality in the places we measure water quality,” said Denny Dart, chief of Water Enforcement for EPA’s Region 1, covering New England. “It certainly has prompted immense investment in municipal infrastructure. We’ve built sewage treatment plants, laid new sewer lines, done an immense amount of work to handle human waste. There is still much to do. In New England, where the pipes are a century old, it’s time to replace much of it.”

“There have been millions and millions of dollars spent on this,” said Ann Lowery, deputy assistant commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The state helps municipalities fund projects and since 1999 has spent about $1 billion of the roughly $4 billion needed, she said. “The frequency (of discharges) has been reduced, and the volume has been reduced, and they continue to be reduced,” she said.

But increased population brings more development that paves over green areas and increases storm runoff. And climate change is expected to bring higher water levels, more frequent storms and more severe rainfall to New England.

The pollution comes in two ways. What officials call “sanitary sewer overflows” are direct discharges from the sewer lines themselves, often caused when pipes are ruptured, clogged with grease or tree roots, or flooded in a rain. This can cause backups that send raw sewage spilling onto streets or spouting from manholes.

In 2004, the EPA estimated 3 to 10 billion gallons of untreated sewage is leaked accidentally each year in this manner.

Combined Sewer Overflows in New England, 2011

Sources: State and local environmental agencies

“Most people don’t know much about what goes on underground,” said the EPA’s Dart. “When we get big storms and flooding I see people letting their children play in the floodwater. In New England, there’s a very good chance that the floodwaters have sewage in them.”

But the biggest source of pollution – an estimated 850 billion gallons each year – comes as a result of a design shortcut, according to a 2004 report to Congress by the EPA. Many East Coast sewage systems were designed to funnel stormwater runoff, which picks up contaminants, into the same treatment plant that handles sewage. In routine weather, this generally works, and has the advantage of cleansing both stormwater and sewage before it reaches waterways.

But when there are heavy rains or snowmelt, the systems are overwhelmed, and operators divert the deluge directly into the waterways. These events are called “combined sewer overflows.”

To fix the problem, municipalities can build separate systems for sewage and stormwater, or build immense underground holding tanks to hold the excess until it can be treated. Vermont has invested $600 million in wastewater treatment facilities since the 1970s; its rivers no longer turn the color of the dye used in woolen mills. Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay Commission tunneled under Providence to construct a three-mile long, 26-foot wide holding tank for stormwater. Connecticut halved its sewage outfall pipes in 30 years. New Hampshire has enlisted volunteers to monitor 180 lakes and is protecting its shoreline.

But the size of the work yet to be done is daunting. The EPA still lists nearly 3,000 water bodies in New England as “impaired,” meaning they remain too polluted to meet the minimum water quality standards set by the states.

The federal government paid the bulk of sewage treatment improvements at the beginning of the Clean Water Act, but by 1987 it reduced its contribution to a fund that makes about $5 billion in low-interest but repayable loans to the states each year to finance water quality projects. The burden is largely on hard-pressed local and state governments to pay for continued progress; in 2008 the EPA estimated that another $64 billion is needed to fix the combined sewer problems, $4.2 billion of that in New England.

“It’s probably the biggest issue in town,” Nicole Clegg, communications director for Portland, Maine, said of the cost of sewerage improvements. “We have invested $100 million already and will invest $270 million over the next 15 years. Everybody is invested in having a clean Casco Bay. Portland’s quality of life attracts businesses. That said, there are real concerns that our (utility bill) rates are becoming so high we are losing our attractiveness to businesses.”

“The most important thing for people to become more aware of is we are still using rivers and streams as sewage conveyances,” said Khalsa, of the Mystic River Watershed Association. “What’s needed now,” Khalsa said, “ is to look at the great work we’ve done, and redouble our efforts to complete the job.”

(The New England Center for Investigative Reporting (www.necir-bu.org) is a nonprofit investigative reporting newsroom based at Boston University. Emerson College journalism student Vjeran Pavic helped compile the mapping for this project.)

Related story:
» Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette asks EPA to back off on sewer improvement demands

The map below shows sewer discharge pipes in New England:


Northampton Pride March set for May 4

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As is customary, the Mayor of Northampton, David Narkewicz, will read a proclamation dedicating the day to gay rights in the city.

PRIDE.JPG A Springfield contingent took part in the 2011 Pride March.  
NORTHAMPTON – Believing their struggle for equal rights is not yet over, thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people will take to the streets of Northampton on May 4 for the 32nd Annual Pride March.

The theme of this year’s event is “Our Journey is Not Complete,” and the march will feature a number of religious, political and inspirational speakers, along with a full schedule of music and entertainment. Emcee Kelli Dunham is a Registered Nurse who has written several books of humor and nonfiction, including two children’s books.

As is customary, the Mayor of Northampton, David Narkewicz, will read a proclamation dedicating the day to gay rights in the city.

When it first began in 1982, the march was a daring and dangerous venture into the public for local lesbian and gay people who were forced underground because of their sexual orientation. Over the decades, as society has grown more accepting, the Pride March has taken on a celebratory air, with multi-color balloon arches, music and parents pushing baby carriages. Heterosexuals from the community often participate in the march as allies, to show support for their neighbors.

In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage. Today the city has many same-sex couples, whose children attend Northampton schools. Former mayor Mary Clare Higgins was the first openly gay mayor in the state.

The Pride March traditionally begins on Bridge Street and proceeds down Main and through downtown. In recent years, organizers have had the post-march festivities at the Three County Fairgrounds, where there is indoor protection from the weather. The march will follow that route this year, with the parade beginning at noon. Events will continue afterwards until 5:30 p.m.

Entertainment will include Karen Grenier, who has performed at the Boston Pride Festival and is a regular performer in Provincetown. “Omni-faith” Rev. Tinker Donnelly, a Northampton minister, is among the speakers.

The local contingent of the Raging Grannies will also take part in the march. The movement of older women banding together to protest against the government and the military-industrial complex began in Canada and has spread throughout the world.

The march and post-march events will be replete with drag performers. Billy Ulrich, who is on the International Association of GLBTI, will address the crowd.

Todd Ruggere of the Mass. Beer Tour is criss-crossing Massachusetts, raising his glass to raise money for the Jimmy Fund

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Since January, Ruggere has been seeking to raise money for the Jimmy Fund by drinking a beer in all 351 communities in Massachusetts within a year .

AMHERST – Todd Ruggere is looking to help sick children. Drinking beer is just the way he's chosen to do it.

Since January, the 38-year-old Grafton man is involved in his own personal Ruthian effort to raise money for the Jimmy Fund, the fund-raising arm of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He is attempting to drink a beer in every city and town in Massachusetts – all 351 of them – by the end of this year.

So far, the Mass Beer Tour has brought him to more than 141 communities with just over seven months left in the year. By the end of Sunday, he expects to be at 150. It sounds impressive, but it's not yet at the halfway point. To paraphrase Frost, he has miles to go and beers to drink before he sleeps. At a recent visit to The Hanger in Amherst, stop number 129, Ruggere said “I only have 222 to go.”

Since the start of the beer tour, Ruggere has traveled the highways and byways of the state, looking for new places to stop and have a cold one. He’s gone to dozens of bars and restaurants, ice-skating rinks and bowling alleys, private houses and farms. He’s had a drink with llamas at a farm in Plymouth and with Maxwell the mule, of Mendon, who, like Ruggere, has an affinity for a good beer.

And along the way he has racked up an unknown number of miles on his car, spent hundreds on gasoline, but more importantly raised more than $12,500 for the Jimmy Fund.

beer tour headshot Ruggere.jpgTodd Ruggere 

The Mass Beer Tour came about when one day Ruggere tried naming as many of the state’s cities and towns as he could.

“I knew there were 351 of them but I could only come up with like 150,” he said.

He said he pulled out a map and was captivated by all these unusual names for places he never knew existed, places like Savoy, Heath and Gosnold. It was then and there that he declared, “I’m going to have a beer in each one of them.”

Combining a statewide beer tour with raising money for Dana Farber seemed like an immediate and natural fit, he said.

“I put the two together and it took off from there,” he said.

It wasn’t until after about his 65th stop that the donations started rolling in.

That was after a Boston television station did a story about him on the evening news. People immediately started contacting him about donating money. Bars and restaurants called to ask if he would come on by. He started finding himself the guest of honor at various fund-raisers, barbecues and picnics throughout the state, and the donations kept growing.

“I just show up,” he said.

A stop in Greenfield in April brought him $745. An auction and cribbage tournament in
Orange raised $1,100.

“My best place has been North Attleborough. I raised $1,526,” he said.

As word spread by word of mouth and through the press, Ruggere has developed quite a following on social media and the Internet. He has 270 or so fans following his exploits on Facebook and another 270 followers on Twitter. Others keep track of his every move over his website, www.351samadams.com.

The Boston Beer Company, makers of Sam Adams's, Ruggere’s favorite beer, also got involved. He points out the brewery is not a sponsor, per se. He doesn’t receive any money from them, but they do help him out with some things, such as providing free T-shirts and promotional items that he hands out to fans he meets along the way.

If all goes right, some time in December, he’ll be making his 351st stop at the Boston Beer Company in Boston.

Some of his stops, like the one today at The Hanger, are a little more low key. Other than a post on Facebook of his plans to stop there, no one was expecting him. He entered without fanfare, like any other customer, and grabbed a booth in the corner. When the waitress took his order, he handed her one of his promotional flyers. With a curious expression on her face, she showed it to people sitting at the bar.

Advance notice or not, Ruggere said that at almost every stop, he’s run into someone who has heard of the beer tour.

“Almost every place I go, someone knows about it. ’You’re the guy! You’re the guy who’s drinking all the beer,’” he said.

As if on cue, someone from the other side of the room says “Hey, Mass Beer Tour. How’s it going?”

Josh Silver of Northampton and Alison Lonczak of Chicopee approached his table to say hello, and Ruggere spent several moments talking with them about where he’s been and who he has shared a beer with. He also asked them for recommendations for good spots to go for upcoming visits to Northampton and Easthampton.

He gave them some shirts, they posed with him for pictures, and then they gave him some money, which Ruggere recorded in an accounting ledger that he carries in his bag.

Lonczak of Chicopee said that she and Silver, who is from Northampton, have been fans of Ruggere since they first hear of his beer tour.

“I’m a friend on Facebook,” Lonczak said. “We specifically came here because we knew he was going to be here.”

Silver kind of shrugged and said “I’m here every Friday.”

Ruggere said the encounter with them was pretty typical. When people find out who he is, they just come up and talk with him, he said.

“It has something to do with beer,” he said.

“Everyone likes beer. There’s no other way I could do this and have as much fun,” he said. “I could have done a cheeseburger in every town, but that wouldn’t be as much fun.”

Ruggere said the Mass Beer Tour is not about getting cocked across the Commonwealth. It’s about having a beer, meeting new friends, and moving on to the next place. It’s the ultimate pub crawl, albeit one dedicated to raising money to fight cancer.

“It’s kind of exciting to see the state. It’s bigger than I thought,” he said. “It’s pretty big, but it’s a fun state though.”

Ruggere works as a processor with a mutual fund company, The Bank of New York.
Most of his touring has to be done on the weekend, making this visit unusual because he took time off work to do it, he said.

Four months into the tour, the burden of the logistics is starting to weigh down on him. He said he’s checked off every city and town within an hour’s drive of his Grafton home, just southeast of Worcester. Every stop from here on out is going to take more time and more gasoline.

“In order to go to any place, it’s a big deal now.”

He still has Cape Cod to do and pretty much everything west of the Connecticut River. Tracing with his fingers on a map the space between Amherst and the New York line, Ruggere said “I have all this to go.”

Working primarily on the weekends, he is required to make multiple stops each day. On this day, he had been to Pelham and Amherst and was planning to go to Hadley and Deerfield.

Beer tour map RuggereTodd Ruggere uses a yellow marker to color in communities he has gone to during his Mass. Beer Tour. He still has more than 220 to go to complete his goal of drinking a beer in all 351 Massachusetts communities. 

“It’s really hard because today I’m by myself so I can only hit a few places. When I have friends to drive me, I can hit five or six places,” he said.

A beer distributor has offered to charter a bus so Ruggere and some friends to do as many as 10 towns in one day, he said.

Another complicating factor is there are eight Massachusetts communities, Alford, Dunstable, Chilmark, Gosnold, Hawley, Montgomery, Westhampton and Mount Washington, that are dry town or do not allow alcohol sales.

There are also some places, like Pelham, that are so small, there are no bars or restaurants that sell beer.

As a workaround to that problem, Ruggere has been reaching out to anyone from those places to see if anyone will invite him over for a beer.

Someone from Gosnold called him the other day to say the tiny Cape Cod town with a few dozen residents is willing to host a barbecue this summer in his honor, and a woman in Dunstable offered to have him over and have his picture taken with her chickens.

Ruggere was able to cross off Pelham through the generosity of Jenifer Valera who invited him to her house for a beer.

“I was glad I could help,” she said.

Valera had never met Ruggere before, but one of her friends, Emily Lamothe of Chicopee had. She met him when the Mass Beer Tour touched down in Chicopee. She now follows him on Facebook and when Ruggere is in the area.

“I’m not a groupie. I just like bars,” she said. “And raising money for a good cause.”

Boston marathon bombing suspects' father Anzor Tsarnaev postpones trip to U.S.

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The father of the two Boston bombing suspects says he is postponing a trip to the United States because of poor health.

429anzor.JPGThe father of the two Boston bombing suspects, Anzor Tsarnaev speaks at a news conference in Makhachkala, the southern Russian province of Dagestan, Thursday, April 25, 2013. The father of the two Boston bombing suspects said Thursday that he is leaving Russia for the United States in the next day or two, but their mother said she was still thinking it over.  

By ARSEN MOLLAYEV

MAKHACHKALA, Russia — The father of the two Boston bombing suspects says he is postponing a trip to the United States because of poor health.

Anzor Tsarnaev told The Associated Press on Sunday that he is "really sick" and his blood pressure had spiked.

Tsarnaev said last week that he planned to travel from Russia to the U.S. with the hope of seeing his younger son, who is under arrest, and burying his elder son, who was killed in a clash with police.

Tsarnaev confirmed that he is staying in Chechnya, a province in southern Russia, but did not specify whether he was hospitalized.

Until Friday, he and the suspects' mother had been living in the neighboring province of Dagestan.

Lawmaker believes Boston Marathon bombing suspects were trained

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The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says he believes the Boston Marathon bombing suspects had some training in carrying out their attack.

429suspects.JPGThis Monday, April 15, 2013 file photo provided by Bob Leonard shows bombing suspects Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, center right in black hat, and his brother, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, center left in white hat, approximately 10-20 minutes before the blasts that struck the Boston Marathon. 

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says he believes the Boston Marathon bombing suspects had some training in carrying out their attack.

Rep. Michael McCaul is citing the type of device used in the attack — shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs — and the weapons' sophistication as signs of training.

Homemade bombs built from pressure cookers have been a frequent weapon of militants in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen once published an online manual on how to make one.

McCaul also tells "Fox News Sunday" that he thinks the suspects' mother played "a very strong role" in her sons' radicalization process and that if she were to return to the United States from Russia, she'd be held for questioning.

AP Profile: U.S. Senate candidate Stephen Lynch stresses blue collar roots

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While doing pro bono legal work at the housing project where he grew up, residents would encourage him to run for public office, he said. He won a seat in the state House of Representatives in 1995 and just 14 months later ran in a special election to succeed the powerful state Sen. William Bulger, who had resigned to become president of the University of Massachusetts.

By BOB SALSBERG, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, a onetime ironworker, nearly always makes a point of his blue-collar roots while campaigning for the U.S. Senate.

By far the most conservative of the state's all-Democratic congressional delegation — his votes against President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and the federal financial reform law rankled many in the party — Lynch, 58, is hoping his gritty life story will resonate with working-class voters and propel him to an upset victory in the special election to fill Secretary of State John Kerry's former seat.

His opponent in Tuesday's primary, fellow U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, is favored by Kerry and backed by large segments of the Democratic political establishment in Massachusetts.

In 2010, Republican Scott Brown, with his now-famous barn jacket and green pickup truck, connected with middle-class voters in a similar way during his successful campaign to succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Lynch takes the everyman theme even further and, in a gentle jab at Brown, points out that he not only drove a pickup for much of his working life but also tossed a pair of real workboots in the back.

"My dad used to say, 'There were times that we had to save up to be poor,'" Lynch said in an Associated Press interview, recalling his childhood at the Old Colony housing project in the largely white, Irish-Catholic South Boston neighborhood.

"We had nothing," he continued, and few in the neighborhood had more. It was a tough and unsheltered upbringing. He would later lose a cousin to gun violence in another housing project.

Lynch's father was an ironworker and from a young age it became evident that would be Lynch's path in life as well. By high school, he was helping out at construction sites.

"They put me in there when I was just a kid. I loved it," he said. Over the next two decades, Lynch would work on countless jobs, not only in Boston but around the country.

But the lifestyle had its drawbacks.

"You work hard and you play hard," he said. "Everybody piles into the pub after work and that became a habit."

By his early 20s, he had a drinking problem. The decisions and events that followed would shape his future.

While on a project in Wisconsin that had shut down because of a blizzard, he recalled, a woman he was dating noted that Lynch enjoyed reading and suggested he take classes at a local college. He did, quickly realizing how hard it was to study after a few beers.

"I stopped doing it. I stopped drinking," he said. Three years later, he was elected to the board of his union, Iron Workers Local 7, and would rise to become its president.

"Once people see that you're sober, and you're serious, and you're motivated, they focus on you as a potential leader," he said.

Lynch's union activism, he said, stemmed from concerns about ironworker safety. In New Mexico, a fellow worker plunged to his death and he saw workers injured at other jobs.

But as union president, he also discovered that "in order to sneeze, I had to check with the lawyers." That frustration helped prompt him to become a lawyer himself. Lynch, who had earlier earned a degree in construction management at Wentworth Institute of Technology, earned his law degree from Boston College in 1991.

While doing pro bono legal work at the housing project where he grew up, residents would encourage him to run for public office, he said. He won a seat in the state House of Representatives in 1995 and just 14 months later ran in a special election to succeed the powerful state Sen. William Bulger, who had resigned to become president of the University of Massachusetts.

After a campaign he described as a "civil war," Lynch defeated Bulger's son, William Bulger Jr.

"There are some sharp elbows in South Boston politics," he explained, a hint of understatement in his voice.

Lynch entered — and won — another special election in 2001, this time to succeed the late U.S. Rep. Joseph Moakley. It didn't hurt that two of Lynch's uncles had helped Moakley win a political office decades earlier, giving Lynch a leg up with the late congressman's family, he said.

But in the current Senate campaign, Lynch has struggled to gain name recognition outside of his Boston stronghold, making more difficult the task of defeating a better-financed candidate in Markey who appears more in step with core liberal Democrats likely to vote in Tuesday's primary.

Lynch has sought to reassure Democrats of his credentials. He identifies himself as "pro-life," but promises not to seek changes in abortion rights laws. He also insists his record on environmental issues is on par with Markey, though a group led by a wealthy California environmental activist has dogged Lynch over his past support for the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada.

Lynch's best hope seems to lie with the labor vote, conservative-leaning Democrats and independents.

"If I can just get to those people and let them know who I am, what I'm about, I can win," he said.

It's been a difficult time for Lynch personally as well. He's a longtime friend of the family of 8-year-old Martin Richard, one of the three people who died in the Boston Marathon bombing. Martin's sister and mother were seriously injured.

In February, close friend and campaign adviser William McDermott was struck and killed by a car crossing a South Boston street.

The Markey and Lynch campaigns are spending the remaining days and hours before Tuesday's primary traveling across the state in an attempt to rally the vote for their respective candidate.

The Republican U.S. Senate candidates - Michael Sullivan, the former U.S. attorney, Gabriel Gomez, the private equity investor and former Navy SEAL, and State Rep. Daniel Winslow – are also criss-crossing the state stressing their biographies and plans in the final days of the race.


AP Profile: U.S. Senate hopeful Ed Markey points to long record

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Markey, who is facing off against fellow U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch in Tuesday's Democratic primary in the state's special U.S. Senate election, was in his third year at Boston College Law School when he decided to plunge into politics by challenging a longtime Democratic state representative.

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — As a teenager growing up in Massachusetts in the early 1960s, Edward Markey remembered hearing how John F. Kennedy was too Irish, too Catholic and too much a product of Boston politics to be elected president.

For Markey, an Irish Catholic kid from Malden, Kennedy's victory was both a triumph and an inspiration.

"In his inaugural address, he said that public service was an opportunity to do God's work here on Earth," Markey said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "He not only inspired me but inspired a whole generation to think of public service."

Markey came from humble roots. His father drove a truck for the Hood Milk Co. Markey, who would be the first in his family to go to college, attended Malden Catholic High School and helped pay his way through Boston College by driving an ice cream truck.

Markey, who is facing off against fellow U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch in Tuesday's Democratic primary in the state's special U.S. Senate election, was in his third year at Boston College Law School when he decided to plunge into politics by challenging a longtime Democratic state representative.

"I was a much more liberal Democrat than the incumbent, and I think that made a big difference," Markey said. "There was a changing of the guard that was taking place not just in Massachusetts but across the country, and I was part of that."

Markey's stint at the Statehouse was relatively brief. He was elected in 1972 and sworn in the following January. But he would make good use of his time, positioning himself against a top Democratic powerbroker.

Markey was assigned to the Judiciary Committee and soon set his sights on ending a system that allowed Massachusetts judges to maintain private law practices while serving on the bench.

"The system was loaded with built-in conflicts of interest," Markey said.

He pulled together support for a bill that would abolish the system and give dozens of judges with law practices three years to choose between being full-time judges or full-time lawyers.

Despite the opposition of the powerful house speaker at the time, Thomas McGee, Markey's bill was approved and in early 1976 it was signed into law by former Gov. Michael Dukakis.

Markey would pay a political price, at least temporarily.

When McGee announced Markey was no longer on the committee, Markey and his backers responded by holding a press conference which further irked the House leader.

"Overnight we got a call to say that my desk was no longer in the Judiciary Committee, that they shoved it out into the hall," Markey said.

Markey, who by then was running for Congress, seized the opportunity. He launched a campaign ad that showed him standing before his desk in the hallway and using the tagline: "The bosses can tell me where to sit, but nobody tells me where to stand."

Markey took his seat in Congress in 1977 and was assigned to committees overseeing health care and energy by a fellow Massachusetts Democrat — former U.S. House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill.

At the time the country was struggling with a foundering economy and an energy crisis. One of Markey's first major amendments to pass increased funding for solar energy.

For the next three decades, Markey would build a legislative portfolio that included work on energy, telecommunication, national security and the environment.

He wrote legislation to set minimum safety standards for the construction and operation of liquefied natural gas facilities and helped persuade President Bill Clinton to block the importation of inexpensive Chinese semi-automatic assault weapons.

Markey would press for the breakup of the monopoly that AT&T Corp. had on phone service, write legislation to increase competition in the cable television industry and collaborate on the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Markey said those efforts help plant the seeds for the innovation revolution that led from rotary phones to smartphones.

Markey also won over environmentalists when he pushed tougher efficiency standards for household appliances and pressed to set goals to dramatically reduce greenhouse gases.

When oil began spilling into the Gulf of Mexico following an explosion on an offshore rig operated by BP, Markey forced the company to make live video footage of the spill available on a public "Spillcam" website.

"Anybody who knows me knows I take on the tough issues and I get results," he said.

Markey has also proven adaptable.

Once an opponent of abortion rights, Markey quickly switched his position early in his political career.

"I just decided that it was the woman's choice and that the decision should be between her and her physician and her family," he said.

Markey has also fended off critics who point to the home he owns in Chevy Chase, Md., to suggest that he's gone from political firebrand to Washington insider. But Markey insists his true home is the family's house in Malden.

Markey and his wife bought the house in 2001 following his father's death.

"I have lived in the same house in Malden for more than 60 years," he said.

The Markey and Lynch campaigns are spending the remaining days and hours before Tuesday's primary traveling across the state in an attempt to rally the vote for their respective candidate.

The Republican U.S. Senate candidates - Michael Sullivan, the former U.S. attorney, Gabriel Gomez, the private equity investor and former Navy SEAL, and State Rep. Daniel Winslow – are also criss-crossing the state stressing their biographies and plans in the final days of the race.



AP Profile: Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Michael Sullivan says work as prosecutor has prepared him for role

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In 2001, Sullivan was asked to take over as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts. His confirmation process dragged on until the Sept. 11 attacks. Within days he was plunged into the massive investigation.

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Republican Michael Sullivan was born one of seven children to a Boston Irish family, leaving college to take a job on the factory floor of a local razor company.

But Sullivan was also determined to get ahead, eventually reaching the upper echelons of law enforcement, serving as district attorney, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, and director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Along the way he would help investigate both the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the failed attempt to blow up an airliner using shoe bombs.

Now Sullivan, one of three Republican candidates in Massachusetts' special U.S. Senate election, is trying to convince GOP voters he's the true conservative in the race.

The 58-year-old Sullivan was born in Boston's rough-and-tumble South End to one of just two Irish Catholic families on his street. His father worked for the phone company and his mother worked part-time as a waitress. The family soon moved to the suburbs.

Sullivan attended Boston College, but left after a year to take a job at the Gillette razor company — a "temporary job" that lasted 16 years.

As he climbed the corporate ranks, Sullivan kept his eyes on another dream, finishing college and getting his law degree from Suffolk University in 1993.

"At some point during the course my career at Gillette, I really decided I wanted to run for public office," he said.

He left the company in 1989, opening a small law practice in Holbrook and running for state representative. He was elected in 1990 and re-elected in 1992 and 1994.

When the Plymouth County district attorney died in 1995, former Republican Gov. William Weld tapped Sullivan. He was elected to fill out the rest of the term in 1996 and re-elected in 1998.

"I found the work extremely professionally challenging and rewarding like none other than I'd done up to that point," Sullivan said.

When the hardscrabble city of Brockton ran out of money for its parks, Sullivan teamed with the local Boys and Girls Club and YMCA to use money seized from drug dealers to keep the parks open.

"The communities who were being most harmed by the drug dealing trade would get the benefit of those resources," he said. "Parents would feel safe sending their kids to the playgrounds."

Sullivan also pointed to the successful cold case investigation of the grisly 1977 killing of fourth-grade teacher Ruth Masters in Myles Standish State Forest.

In 2001, Sullivan was asked to take over as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts. His confirmation process dragged on until the Sept. 11 attacks. Within days he was plunged into the massive investigation.

Sullivan said the office didn't have an antiterrorism task force and "had to create something from scratch."

"After an event like that you get tens of thousands of leads," He said. "You have to look at every single thing that comes in."

Sullivan said his office also worked with Massachusetts family members of the victims, at one point holding a "sad and somber" meeting with hundreds of survivors.

Just months after the attacks, Sullivan was on a skiing vacation when he received reports of a passenger attempting to blow up a Paris-to-Miami American Airlines flight that was diverted to Logan International Airport.

Sullivan's office led the prosecution of Richard Reid, a British citizen who claimed allegiance to Osama bin Laden, for trying to ignite explosives in his shoes.

"We learned who Richard Reid was. We learned about his travel. We learned about the way he tried to prevent people from identifying him as a potential member of al-Qaida," Sullivan said.

The investigation also led to a co-conspirator, Saajid Badat, later sentenced by a British judge to 13 years in prison.

Sullivan said he traveled to Scotland Yard to try to persuade prosecutors to extradite Badat.

"There was no case that I had at the US Attorney's Office that I was more involved in," Sullivan said.

When President George W. Bush was looking for someone to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Sullivan was chosen. He would fill that post for the final two and a half years of the Bush administration.

After leaving public service Sullivan took a job as partner with the Ashcroft Law Firm, founded by former U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft.

Sullivan, who deferred to a network of volunteers to gather the signatures needed to get him on the ballot, has tried to cast himself at the true conservative candidate in Tuesday's primary.

He describes himself as "pro-life" on abortion and a "traditionalist" on gay marriage.

The Abington resident is also the only candidate to criticize the U.S. Senate for trying to subject more firearms buyers to federal background checks.

Sullivan said he supports making sure all records that identify someone as declared mentally ill are as readily available as criminal history records. He also said convicted felons who attempt to buy weapons should be prosecuted.

Although Sullivan may be the most familiar name on the Republican ballot, he trails his fellow GOP candidates — Norfolk state representative Daniel Winslow and Cohasset businessman Gabriel Gomez — in fundraising.

The campaigns of Democratic U.S. Senate hopefuls Edward Markey and Stephen Lynch are, like their Republican counterparts, spending the remaining days and hours before Tuesday's primary traveling across the state in an attempt to rally the vote for their respective candidate.



AP Profile: Republican state Rep. and U.S. Senate hopeful Dan Winslow says party must return to values of Abraham Lincoln

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Republicans must return to the values of Abraham Lincoln, Winslow insisted, and GOP should become an acronym for "grand opportunity party," not grand old party.

By BOB SALSBERG, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — When he was a young attorney and serving on his town's planning board in 1990, Daniel Winslow came home to a shocking find.

"My house was bombed by a bad guy," said Winslow, now a state representative from Norfolk and one of three Republicans running for John Kerry's former U.S. Senate seat. Neither he nor his wife, pregnant with the couple's first child, was home when someone threw a device through a window, but the incident left them shaken.

The 'bad guy' was upset by Winslow's stance on a zoning issue, he said. Police never had enough evidence to charge the person who Winslow believes did it.

Winslow alluded to the incident last week when he became the first Senate candidate to resume campaigning in the aftermath of the deadly April 15 Boston Marathon bombing. While the magnitude of the two bombings obviously don't compare, Winslow did compare his decision not to give up his town post or be intimidated by the attack on his home to a similar need to forge ahead with the business at hand following the attack on Boston.

"We stand together against those who would seek to impose on the majority the twisted perspective of the self-appointed few," he said.

Winslow, 54, doesn't doubt the conventional political wisdom that he's an underdog in next week's primary against former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and Gabriel Gomez, a businessman and former Navy SEAL. But Winslow is also something of a wild card in the race, a cerebral candidate — socially moderate and fiscally conservative — who has followed an unorthodox career path and hasn't shied away from pointed criticism of his own party.

"This is the first race for federal office since the November 2012 memo we got from the American people," Winslow said in a recent interview with The Associated Press, referring to President Barack Obama's victory over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

"The majority of voters in America for the next 30 years are women, millennials and new Americans. And the Republican party has to speak to and be relevant to those voters or we will continue to lose," he said.

Republicans must return to the values of Abraham Lincoln, Winslow insisted, and GOP should become an acronym for "grand opportunity party," not grand old party.

Winslow grew up in Amherst, in western Massachusetts, the oldest among five brothers. His father, Joel, started a small business and his mother, Dolores, a first-generation Italian-American, was a registered nurse.

He graduated from Tufts University with a degree in political science and earned his law degree from Boston College in 1983.

After 12 years as a private attorney, he was appointed to a judgeship on the state's district court in 1995 by then-Republican Gov. William Weld. He was a judge for eight years — a job he said he loved and one he could have kept much longer, since judgeships are lifetime appointments in Massachusetts.

But the father of three chose to take off the robes and the security that came with them to join Romney's administration as the governor's chief legal counsel in 2003. He left the post two years later to return to private practice, but was far from finished with government.

In 2010, he was a campaign legal adviser to Republican Scott Brown, who scored an upset victory in a special election to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy. Later that year, Winslow won a seat in the state House of Representatives. It seemed a curious political choice at the time, given his resume and the perception of the office being much nearer the bottom of the political ladder than the top.

"If I play my cards right, I'll end up as a selectman," Winslow joked when asked about his career path.

"One of the risks of government at a high level is you start to think you're important," Winslow added, turning more serious. "I think it's important that you take yourself down a few notches and remind yourself that you are there to serve the people."

Winslow was thought to be eyeing a run for statewide office — perhaps governor in 2014 — when he became the first Republican to declare for the Senate after Brown's decision not to run in the special election. Federal campaign finance records show he's poured more than $150,000 of his own money into the campaign so far.

The only Republican in the race who supports abortion rights, Winslow said he prefers a "big tent approach" on social issues.

"My focus is on the many more issues (Republicans) have in common, rather than the few issues that divide us," he said.

He said the party should commit to seeking bipartisan solutions to the federal debt and deficit crisis. Like other Republicans he opposes broad-based tax increases, but has proposed a complex and far-reaching overhaul of the corporate tax code.

It is a Winslow trait — his penchant for seeming to offer a solution for every problem — that some find refreshing and others annoying. "Dan with a plan," he's sometimes called.

"I'm not a wimpy Republican," Winslow said. "If we act like losers, we'll lose."

The campaigns of Democratic U.S. Senate hopefuls Edward Markey and Stephen Lynch are, like their Republican counterparts, spending the remaining days and hours before Tuesday's primary traveling across the state in an attempt to rally the vote for their respective candidate.


AP Profile: GOP U.S. Senate hopeful Gabriel Gomez hopes to become new face of the Republican Party

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Born in Los Angeles, Gomez was still a toddler when the family moved to Washington state, where his father sold hops for a living. Gomez said those formative years helped set the course for his life.

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Gabriel Gomez is hoping to be the new face of the Republican Party.

The son of Colombian immigrants, Gomez first learned to speak English in kindergarten, then went on to become a Navy pilot and SEAL, earn an MBA at Harvard Business School and launch a successful career in private equity.

As Republicans search for candidates to expand their appeal to minority voters, Gomez appears to fit the bill. But while Gomez may have the perfect resume, it's unclear how the campaign newcomer will fare in Massachusetts' famously rough-and-tumble politics.

The 47-year-old Cohasset businessman, one of three Republicans in the state's special U.S. Senate race to fill the seat formerly held by Secretary of State John Kerry, has embraced his heritage, speaking Spanish in campaign ads and portraying his life story as the American dream.

"I couldn't be more proud of my heritage and the fact that my parents decided to stay here after I was born," Gomez, a first-generation American, said in an interview.

Born in Los Angeles, Gomez was still a toddler when the family moved to Washington state, where his father sold hops for a living. Gomez said those formative years helped set the course for his life.

"I saw how this country embraced my parents and gave them a chance at the dream, gave me a chance at the dream," he said. "I wanted to serve. I wanted to pay back."

Gomez served first as a Navy pilot, flying off aircraft carriers along the East Coast, before taking a gamble and applying to the elite Navy SEALs. He was warned if he failed, he'd also lose his pilot status.

Gomez served as a SEAL from 1992 to 1995 and was stationed in South America, where he met his wife, Sarah, who was working in the West Indies as a Peace Corps volunteer at a school for special needs students.

After leaving the Navy, Gomez graduated from Harvard Business School and entered the world of private equity.

He eventually landed a job at the Boston-based investment firm Advent International, where he's worked on pension funds and retirement systems. He's also helped launch regional businesses like apparel company Lululemon onto the national stage. He resigned to run for Senate.

Gomez says he's a model of how Republicans can broaden their appeal to independent and Democratic voters by talking about basic GOP principles like fiscal discipline and smaller government.

"It's strong coming from someone who grew up just like them," Gomez said.

While Gomez has adopted conservative economic policies, he's also embraced more moderate social policies.

He supports gay marriage, but says it should be decided state by state. He personally opposes abortion, citing his Catholic faith, but hasn't advocated overturning Roe v. Wade.

He said some his beliefs come from personal experience. He recalled one of his best friends in the Naval Academy who was forced out after acknowledging he was gay after being asked even though he was ranked third out of a class of more than 1,000.

"I would have been very proud to serve with this young man anywhere, anyhow, anyplace," Gomez said.

Gomez's campaign has hit bumps, most notably a letter he sent to Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick in January asking to be appointed to the Senate seat on an interim basis.

In the letter Gomez pledged to support President Barack Obama's positions on guns and immigration. He's since taken positions at odds with Obama and said he was simply offering to serve his country.

Gomez said he supports expanded background checks but opposes an assault weapons ban.

"If they pass all the checks and they're qualified to use a weapon, I don't think we need to restrict what kind of weapon they use," he said.

On immigration, Gomez said the nation should secure its borders, but also find a pathway to legal status for those in the country illegally. He said that pathway "can't be easy, but it can't be impossible either," and should include a criminal background check.

Gomez said he'd also like to see more veterans enter politics, calling it "a shame that we don't have more senators and more congressmen that have worn the uniform."

Of the three GOP hopefuls, including former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and state Representative Daniel Winslow, Gomez has reported raising the most money — nearly $1.2 million — although that includes $600,000 he loaned his campaign.

He reported having $499,743 left in his account heading into the final stretch to the April 30 primary.

The campaigns of Democratic U.S. Senate hopefuls Edward Markey and Stephen Lynch are, like their Republican counterparts, spending the remaining days and hours before Tuesday's primary traveling across the state in an attempt to rally the vote for their respective candidate.


Obituaries today: John Millett was insurance underwriter, 30-year member of West Springfield Town Meeting

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Obituaries from The Republican.

 
042813-Millett-John.jpgJohn Millett  

John Joseph Millett, 86, of West Springfield, died recently. He was born in Springfield, was a lifelong resident of West Springfield and graduated from West Springfield High School in 1944. He attended Kents Hill School in Kents Hill, Maine. He was a World War II veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving on the USS Macon. He was an insurance underwriter for General Accident Insurance Company, retiring in 1992 after 35 years. He was a West Springfield Town Meeting member for 30 years.

Obituaries from The Republican:


Springfield police charge man with slashing near the 'X' in Forest Park neighborhood

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JaJa Brathwaite, 21, was charged with slashing a man with a knife in the city's Forest Park neighborhood, according to Springfield Police Sgt. Sean Arpin.

SPRINGFIELD — A police K-9 unit tracked a slashing suspect to Beaumont Street, where he was arrested and charged early Sunday morning, Springfield Police Sgt. Sean Arpin said.

The incident happened at about 3 a.m. on Dickinson Street near the "X" in the city's Forest Park neighborhood, but the suspect was tracked to nearby 71 Beaumont St. and taken into custody, police said.

Authorities said JaJa Brathwaite, 21, whose address was unavailable, threatened a man at knifepoint at a Dickinson Street residence. When the man opened the door to talk to Brathwaite, the suspect used a knife to slash the man's hand, Arpin said.

The victim received a slash wound to his right index finger, Arpin said. Brathwaite fled the scene on foot but was caught a short while later at the Beaumont Street address.

He is expected to be arraigned Monday in Springfield District Court.


LOCATION OF BEAUMONT STREET ADDRESS WHERE SLASHING SUSPECT WAS ARRESTED:


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Weatherman Rick Sluben: 'My side of the story needs to be told'

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Sluben said a "bitter" ex-girlfriend is attempting to ruin his reputation.

Rick Sluben.jpgAbc40 weatherman Rick Sluben says a "bitter" ex-girlfriend is trying to hurt his reputation. 

SPRINGFIELD — Popular Western Massachusetts weatherman Rick Sluben says a former girlfriend who managed to get a judge to renew a restraining order against the abc40 meteorologist has been stalking him, sending letters to his current girlfriend and to the Springfield TV station where Sluben has worked since 2011.

"We have some history," Sluben said in a telephone interview Sunday afternoon, claiming the ex-girlfriend is still "bitter" over their breakup about 10 months ago.

"My side of the story needs to be told," said Sluben, known for his easy on-air delivery. "I think she's just bitter."

MassLive/The Republican attempted to reach Sluben Saturday, but he has an unlisted phone number.

Sluben, 45, said the former girlfriend, 41, has sent one letter to his current girlfriend's place of work and two letters to abc40, the East Springfield-based TV station where he's an "emergency fill-in" meteorologist, according to station manager Jim Tortora.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported Saturday that a Warren woman filed a request to have a restraining order renewed against Sluben after the original one-year order expired April 19. Sluben, of Chicopee, claims the incident stems from a recent email exchange between him and the woman, with Sluben requesting her to stop harassing him and his current girlfriend.

"It was an unpleasant email exchange," he said, referring to the back-and-forth between him and the Warren woman, whom he identified by name to MassLive/The Republican. "We have some history," he said.

Sluben said he unsuccessfully attempted to get a judge to issue a no-harassment order against the former girlfriend last week. "The judge told me to keep track of all these letters," said Sluben, who couldn't recall the judge's name.

The letters to abc40 were designed to trash his reputation, according to the meteorologist. Sluben said he was surprised abc40 management didn't acknowledge the letters when both a producer and Tortora spoke to MassLive/The Republican on Saturday.

"I call it 'stalking,'" Sluben said of the Warren woman's letters to the TV station.

"I've been done with her for ten months," he said. "I think this was her intent – to tar and feather me. ... This latest incident was me telling her to stop."

Sluben said he was unsure about a 2004 restraining order taken out against him by another woman, which is cited in the Telegram & Gazette report. He said it must have been related to his divorce from his ex-wife. "I had a divorce custody battle that was drawn out," Sluben said.

An online profile on abc40's website indicates Sluben joined the station in February 2011, following "a short hiatus from the broadcast industry." Sluben had previously worked at WWLP-22News for several years and now works as a teacher in Springfield, he said.

Tortora said to the best of his recollection Sluben hadn't appeared on-air at abc40 since Christmas week, but Sluben said he delivered the weather for the TV station as recently as March.

UMass Amherst launches 'UMass Rising,' a $300 million fund-raising campaign

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The comprehensive campaign, designed to enhance excellence and contribute to the long-term sustainability of the university, features five priorities.

spt groundbreak 2.jpgAn artist rendering shows the new Umass Football Performance Center, for which ground was broken Friday. The project is among those supported by the UMass Rising campaign. 

AMHERST – The University of Massachusetts Amherst on Sunday announced the launch of a $300 million fund-raising campaign, the most ambitious in its 150 years.

“UMass Rising” is designed to help the university achieve new heights as a leader in the nation’s innovation economy, campus officials said.

Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said, “To excel today, the best universities must adapt. ... With UMass Rising, we are redefining the future by focusing on innovation and impact in the way we teach students, conduct research, create a diverse and inclusive community and play a national role in fashioning a sustainable future.”

More than $183 million - over 60 percent of the goal - has already been raised. That includes $13 million for athletics facilities. The campaign, in its "quiet phase," officially started Jan. 1, 2010, and will conclude June 30, 2016.

The previous campaign conducted by UMass Amherst raised $130 million, concluding in 2001.

AE_UMASS_SPRINGFIELD_PARTNERSHIP_4_11939417.JPGKumble Subbaswamy 

The campaign will solicit broad-based support, Subbaswamy said.

UMass Rising will be led by prominent alumni.

The four campaign co-chairs are Douglas Berthiaume, chairman, president and CEO of Waters Corp., Milford; Robert Epstein, president of Horizon Beverage Co., Avon; David Fubini, director at McKinsey & Company, Boston, and a UMass trustee; and Eugene Isenberg, chairman emeritus of Nabors Industries Ltd., Houston.

In a statement appealing to fellow alumni and other supporters, the co-chairs said, “It is up to UMass Amherst to affect the quality of life for all of our citizens as no other public institution can."

The four cited additional scholarships so more students "can finish school without unmanageable debt," internships and study abroad.

"While they are here, our students must have access to the finest educators and researchers, the most enriched programs and groundbreaking research, and facilities that are worthy of their lofty pursuits,” the co-chairs wrote.

The leadership also features four distinguished alumni as honorary co-chairs: Bill Cosby, entertainer and educator; Ken Feinberg, attorney and trailblazer in administering claims in disaster cases, including the Boston Marathon bombings; Jack Smith, former CEO of General Motors; and Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric.

The comprehensive campaign, designed to enhance excellence and contribute to the long-term sustainability of the university, features five priorities.

• Support talented students by raising $55 million to create hundreds of merit and need-based scholarships and support for graduate assistantships, study abroad and career assistance.

• Support first-class faculty by raising $54 million to recruit and retain excellent faculty and increase the number of endowed chairs and professorships.

• Support research and programs by raising $97 million to underwrite new and existing centers and institutes, research initiatives and technology programs.

• Support buildings and infrastructure by raising $54 million to create buildings and learning spaces that support the campus’s educational mission. This includes renovation of the Old Chapel, restoring it to a central place in daily campus life.

• Support the Annual Fund by raising $40 million to provide ongoing funding that sustains, expands and enriches programs across campus.

Among the events marking the sesquicentennial of the Amherst campus, Founders Day will be celebrated o Monday.

Obituaries today: Daniel Fiala worked at Riverside Park; was health care provider

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Obituaries from The Republican.

 
042913-Fiala-Dan.jpgDaniel Fiala 

Daniel A. Fiala, 51, of West Springfield, passed away on Saturday. He was born in Springfield and lived in West Springfield all his life. He worked at Riverside Park and in the hospitality industry before working as a health care provider.

Obituaries from The Republican:



Today's Boston Red Sox coverage: Sox the class of the AL, Joel Hanrahan on his way back, and more

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Today's Boston Red Sox coverage on MassLive.com: Major League Baseball: American League Power Rankings, Week 5For the first time all season, our AL power rankings has a team hold the top spot for two consecutive weeks. That team? None other than the Boston Red Sox. Red Sox flexing as they ascend from underdog to April's best team in the majorsThe...

Today's Boston Red Sox coverage on MassLive.com:

Major League Baseball: American League Power Rankings, Week 5

For the first time all season, our AL power rankings has a team hold the top spot for two consecutive weeks. That team? None other than the Boston Red Sox.


Red Sox flexing as they ascend from underdog to April's best team in the majors

The Sox finished the four-game sweep of the Astros on Sunday, 6-1, and head into Monday's off-day as the best team in the majors.


Daniel Bard optioned to Double-A Portland, clearing way for Joel Hanrahan's likely activation

Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard's brief reprise in the majors ended Sunday afternoon, when he was optioned to Double-A Portland after a 6-1 Red Sox win over the Astros. The move was a question of when, not if.


John Lackey is splendid as Red Sox sweep Astros

The beleaguered righty finally showed some positive signs during the team's 6-1 victory on Sunday. Lackey gave up one run over six innings.

Shane Victorino went for MRI, has unknown availability in Toronto

Red Sox reliever Craig Breslow is close, but not ready yet

In case you missed it:

Daniel Bard has trouble finding strike zone, but he's not Rick Ankiel

After latest Red Sox win, David Ortiz signing looks better than ever

Alfredo Aceves: 'For me, it was the worst-case scenario'

Social media:

Follow Evan Drellich on Twitter

Follow Ron Chimelis on Twitter

Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter

Like us on Facebook: Boston Red Sox on MassLive.com

Join the conversation:

Start a discussion thread in Red Sox Fan Talk

Work on regional emergency dispatch system for Monson, Palmer, Ware and Warren continues

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In his report to selectmen at Tuesday's meeting, Ware Town Manger Stuart Beckley said the consortia of towns had hired the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston to study the matter.

WARE – Changing to a regional emergency dispatcher service – involving the towns of Ware, Monson, Warren and Palmer – is not imminent, but officials from the four communities are meeting and have agreed to hire a consultant to study the idea, according to Ware Town Manager Stuart Beckley.

Ware Town Manager Stuart BeckleyWare Town Manager Stuart Beckley 

In his report to selectmen at Tuesday’s meeting, Beckley said the consortia of towns had hired the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston to study the matter.

The center will research the personnel and financial investment the four towns would be required to support for the proposal to gain traction, Beckley said.

He said a completed report from the Collins Center should be available in five months.

In other business, two proposals to install solar panels atop the roof at the new fire station on West Street are under review, Beckley said.

The array, if built, would be placed above the apparatus bay at the station. He said solar electricity generated could lower energy costs by one fourth at the fire station.

The manager said a slew of volunteers scrubbed the upstairs town hall and that the large room is in shape to host the Quabbin Remembrance Ball, taking place Saturday night.

The 75th Anniversary Swift River Valley/Quabbin Remembrance Ball is sponsored by Friends of Quabbin, Inc. and is from 7 to 11 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door, Beckley said.


Holyoke Fire Department continues to probe suspicious fire that destroyed vacant West Franklin Street home

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The fire was reported shortly before 6 p.m. No injuries were reported.

HOLYOKE — Investigators continue to probe a suspicious fire that destroyed a vacant home on West Franklin Street early Saturday night.

No injuries were reported in the blaze at 226 West Franklin St. It was reported shortly before 6 p.m.

Lt. Thomas Paquin, a spokesman for the Holyoke Fire Department, said the blaze is considered suspicious because the home has been boarded up for several years and there is no electricity to it.

“Investigators are probably going to be up there today poking through the house, Paquin said.

When firefighters arrived on scene the attic was fully involved and fire was showing on the first floor.

Authorities said the two-story, wood-frame house is owned by Thomas Colon, who could not immediately be reached for comment.

The fire was fought by 14 firefighters and overseen by Deputy Chief Tom Shea, who was the incident commander, Paquin said.


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Holyoke kindergarten center to open at former Lawrence School with youngsters from Morgan, Kelly and Peck schools

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The new Kindergarten Center will be at the former Lawrence School.

cfe.jpgA new Kindergarten Center will open in the fall at the former Lawrence School, in Holyoke, as the Center for Excellence alternative school vacates the building at Cabot and Maple streets. 

HOLYOKE -- Kindergartens will move from Morgan, Kelly and Peck schools to a new Kindergarten Center when the 2013-2014 school year begins in September.

The School Committee approved the move -- which was drafted by Sergio Paez, who takes over as school superintendent July 1 -- by a vote of 6-3 on April 22.

The Kindergarten Center will be at the former Lawrence School, at Cabot and Maple streets.

Some parents are fighting the plan. A parent who objects because she said parents’ views were excluded from the decision said Friday she has a petition with 150 names so far asking the School Committee to retract the decision.

The step responds to a state order to disperse to other schools the students who attend the program currently operating out of the Lawrence School, the Center for Excellence (CFE) alternative school.

The new Kindergarten Center will allow for a focus on helping youngsters from the three schools where third-grade reading proficiency consistently is among the lowest in the city, said Mayor Alex B. Morse, chairman of the School Committee.

“This center will be a premiere kindergarten center, as it will have more available technologies for all students, and will allow us to implement and pilot innovative programs such as dual immersion, where students are learning both English and Spanish,” Morse said.

The CFE’s 130 or so students, many of whom have severe behavioral issues, and its 30 staffers and related programs must move to other schools.

The state in November ordered the city to close the CFE because officials said it was improper to have a school of all special education students.

As a result, the 12 CFE students in kindergarten to grade 2 will go to E.N. White School, 1 Jefferson St., 32 CFE students in grades 3 to 5 will go to Kelly School, 216 West St., and 56 CFE students in grades 6 to 8 will go to Peck School, 1916 Northampton St. Older students will go to the two city high schools.

“In order to provide space at the receiving schools, we are proposing the creation of a Kindergarten Center at Lawrence,” said Paez, according to a copy of his presentation.

Nine classes of kindergartners, three each from Morgan, Kelly and Peck schools, will comprise the new Kindergarten Center at Lawrence. The goal is to provide improved programs to prepare the children for first grade, Paez said.

The program at the Kindergarten Center will involve a “multi-sensory approach to reading and writing” that targets each students’ needs with the aim of helping them to read English well by grade 3, he said.

Mildred Lefebvre, who has three children attending upper grades at Kelly School, said the School Committee will be asked to retract the plan May 6 because of a lack of parent involvement. She had 150 signatures as of Friday night from like-minded parents, teachers and others in the community, she said.

“We never had a say in it,” Lefebvre said.

The School Committee held a 2 1/2-hour meeting on March 28 about the CFE and related issues in which parents and others were allowed to make comments.

Discussions about changes had included Metcalf Pre-School, 2019 Northampton St., but Metcalf will remain unaffected, officials said.

Joining Morse in approving the plan were Vice Chairman Devin M. Sheehan, at large member Michael J. Moriarty, Ward 3 committee member Dennis W. Birks Jr., Ward 1 member Joshua A. Garcia and Ward 4 member Cesar Lopez.

Voting no were Ward 6 member William R. Collamore, Ward 7 member Margaret M. Boulais and at large member Howard B. Greaney Jr.

Collamore said his no vote was based on knowing that parents prefer sending children to neighborhood schools instead of being bused to another part of the city.

“My feeling is we can come up with a better solution,” Collamore said.

Sheehan said additional public comments could have been sought at length, but the state order regarding CFE required action in time for the next school year.

“We had to make a decision. Whenever you make decisions that impact learning, there's always going to be people who agree with it and disagree with it,” Sheehan said.

GOP State Committeewoman Rachel Kemp, former co-chair of Women for Gabriel Gomez group, endorses Dan Winslow

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In endorsing Winslow, Kemp cited the candidate's support of reforms which she says works toward closing the achievement gap in the state's education system.

Rachel Kemp, a Republican state committeewoman and former supporter of former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez, has officially endorsed state Rep. Daniel Winslow in the state's special election.

"Dan is the best choice of the five Senate candidates to represent Massachusetts in Washington, D.C., because he has the new and creative ideas to be a problem solver in the Senate," Kemp said in a statement. "He is the most electable Republican candidate to take on the Democrats in June. Dan is innovative, experienced and compassionate – all qualities that make a successful legislator. I am proud to endorse Dan Winslow for United States Senate."

But the Northampton native wasn't always Kemp's candidate of choice, as she once co-chaired the Women for Gabriel Gomez group. Kemp, a previous contender for chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, left the group with co-chair Angela Davis in mid-March after Gomez released a letter he sent to Gov. Deval Patrick asking for the Senate appointment following John Kerry's confirmation as Secretary of State.

And although Kemp declined discussing why she left the Gomez camp, the letter revealed Gomez' support of Democratic President Barack Obama, which proved troubling for some in his party.

In endorsing Winslow, Kemp cited the candidate's support of reforms, which she says works toward closing the achievement gap in the state's education system.

Winslow said, "Massachusetts is rightly proud of our state’s reputation as an education leader. But there still is room for improvement and we need to embrace some new common-sense policies to ensure all of our kids get an excellent education."

Winslow, Gomez and former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan are all competing in the Republican primary Tuesday with the aim of becoming the next U.S. senator from Massachusetts.

A Suffolk University poll of bellwether districts concluded that while the GOP race is too close to call, Gomez and Sullivan are competing for the top spot with Winslow coming in a distant third. These results were in line with a Western New England University poll released a week ago.

On the Democratic side, both polls concluded that U.S. Rep. Edward Markey holds a significant advantage over U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch.

But with low voter turnout expected on Tuesday, both primaries will likely be decided by a relatively small number of votes. The two winners will move on to compete in the general election slated for June 25.


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