The handcuffed suspect ultimately had to be subdued with pepper spray.

Springfield police charged 34-year-old Michael Jiles with kicking out the rear window of this cruiser after his arrest on warrants early Monday.

SPRINGFIELD – A 34-year-old Springfield man, wanted by police on a number of warrants, allegedly kicked out the left rear passenger window of a police cruiser following his arrest on Maple Street early Monday.

Police Sgt. John M. Delaney said Michael Jiles, of 94 Maple St., Apt. 4L, kicked out the window while he was wearing handcuffs and ultimately had to be subdued with pepper spray.

The incident began shortly before 6:30 a.m. when detectives Robert Bohl and John Leonard, members of the department’s warrant apprehension unit, went to the front door of his home. When Jiles attempted to escape out the back, Bohl caught him and was then assaulted by the suspect, Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said.

Michael Jiles

The Defense Department has started a search to replace the Colt M4.

Associated PressIn this June 25, 2010, file photo Britain's Prince Harry fires a Colt M4 assault riffle on a United States Military Academy range in West Point, N.Y. The Defense Department is searching for the successor to the M4 combat rifle and gun makers are loading with lobbyists to win the work. Colt Defense of West Hartford, Conn., had an exclusive deal to provide M4s to the U.S. military and didn’t need a hired gun looking out for its interests in Washington.

WASHINGTON — For nearly a decade, Colt Defense went without a lobbyist. The legendary gun maker based in West Hartford, Conn., had an exclusive deal to provide combat rifles to the U.S. military and didn't need a hired gun looking out for the company's interests in Washington.

Times have changed. After buying more than 700,000 Colt M4 carbines, the Defense Department has started a search for the rifle's successor, giving Colt's competitors the long-awaited chance to break the company's grip on the market. So Colt turned to Roger Smith, a former deputy assistant Navy secretary-turned-lobbyist, to be the company's voice in D.C. His fee is $120,000 a year.

The move highlights the importance of a contest that is the Super Bowl and World Series rolled into one for the small arms industry. The Pentagon may buy hundreds of thousands of the new carbine, which should be more accurate, lethal and reliable than the M4 used by troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. At stake is millions of dollars in business for the winner at a time when budgets are tightening and opportunities for long-term weapons contracts are dwindling.

There are major side benefits to being the primary rifle supplier. The American military's seal of approval paves the way for gun sales to U.S. allies. Colt has sold 100,000 M4s overseas, and millions of its M16s — a rifle first fielded during the Vietnam War — are used by armies and law enforcement agencies around the world.

Remington Arms and other gun makers already had lobbyists in place long before the Army announced it wanted a better combat rifle. Remington has spent nearly $500,000 on lobbyists over the last two years alone in a push to get more of its weapons into the hands of U.S. troops, according to lobbying records filed with Congress.

Remington, with its headquarters in Madison, N.C., and a manufacturing plant in upstate New York, is represented by the firms Winborn Solutions and Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough. Remington will offer its multicaliber Adaptive Combat Rifle.

"The biggest thing that Remington wants is the ability to compete for contracts," said Jason Schauble, vice president of Remington's military products division.

While the Pentagon makes decisions on what equipment to buy, Congress provides the money. And lawmakers can influence the decision-making process by inserting language into legislation that authorizes the military's annual budget.

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, a member of the Democratic leadership, has been a strong supporter of Remington.

Smith, who runs RMax Technologies, a Washington consulting firm, registered as Colt's representative in April 2010, according to disclosure records. He knows how the process works. Before his six years as a senior Navy official, Smith was a staffer on the House Armed Services Committee and responsible for oversight of Army weapons programs.

"There's nothing nefarious about it," said James Battaglini, Colt's executive vice president. "We believe it is important to have a person in the Washington area that is available to speak on our behalf because we are in Connecticut."

Colt is losing a powerful proponent on Capitol Hill. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, will not seek a fifth term. But members of the state's congressional delegation still hold influential positions. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat, sits on the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. John Larson is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, and Colt is in his district.

Colt won't say what weapon it plans to enter in the competition to replace its M4. But the betting is on the CM901, Colt's newly designed multicaliber rifle, which can switch barrels depending on the size of the round being fired.

Colt received a no-bid contract in 1994 for the M4, a shorter and lighter version of the M16. Colt has been the military's only source of M4s ever since. In the late 1990s, FNMI, the South Carolina-based subsidiary of Belgian armorer FN Herstal, challenged the exclusive arrangement in federal court but lost.

The Army, which serves as the military's principal buyer of firearms, took control of the M4 design rights from Colt nearly two years ago. In January, a draft solicitation was issued, formally kicking off the contest. At the same time, the Army is seeking bids for improvements to the M4s in its inventory.

FNMI sells a combat rifle called the SCAR to the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla. The command has its own acquisition budget and the latitude to buy gear the conventional military branches can't. FNMI also sells machine guns to the Army.

Fighting FNMI's battles inside Washington's Beltway is the American Business Development Group, a firm that boasts a roster of retired military officers who "provide strategic guidance and access" to the leadership at the Defense Department and other federal agencies. FN Herstal pays the firm $120,000 a year, according to disclosure records.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Republican congressman Joe Wilson sits on the House Armed Services Committee. FMNI, based in Columbia, S.C., is in Wilson's district.

Smith & Wesson, known more for handguns than military rifles, will also bid for the carbine work. The company, based in Springfield, Mass., pays the firm Greenberg Traurig $360,000 a year to be its Washington representative, disclosure records show.

Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts is the top Republican on the Armed Services subcommittee that oversees Army programs.

But not all prospective competitors think a lobbying firm is necessary — at least, not any longer. Heckler & Koch, a German firearms maker with affiliates in the U.S., parted ways with Greenberg Traurig in 2009 and another Washington firm, Mark Barnes and Associates, in early 2010.

The company had no comment on the reason for sidelining its lobbyists.

Wayne Weber, president of Heckler & Koch USA, said the company will submit its HK416 combat rifle as the replacement for the M4. The HK416 is used by U.S. special operations troops, including the Army's elite Delta Force.

The chapter will be 1 of 4 call centers processing calls for the Red Cross' Service to the Armed Forces.

The Republican | Mark M. MurraySherri L. Brown, Senior Vice President for the American Red Cross Service to Armed Forces Program, looks on as Robert Rawstron, of Springfield, takes a call as she toured the Pioneer Valley Chapter's call center during her visit on Tuesday.

SPRINGFIELD – The American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Chapter is gearing up to take its place as one of only four call centers in the nation where the Red Cross will take and process calls for Service to the Armed Forces.

The call center room at the chapter’s Cottage Street headquarters is stacked floor-to-ceiling with new computers and phones. The operators who normally work the call center are squeezed into a room next door, still handling calls from military families as the nationwide system takes shape.

“It’s a little like changing the chain on a bicycle while you are riding it,” said Richard E. Lee, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Chapter. “But starting June 13 the switchover will happen. The new system goes live.”

Beginning June 13, all military members and their families can use one number – (877) 272-7337 – to send an urgent message to a service member. Nationally, the service helps more than 2 million service members and many of the nation’s 24 million veterans.

Sherri L. Brown, senior vice president for the American Red Cross Service to Armed Forces, stopped by Cottage Street on Tuesday to check in on training and give the staff a pep talk. The Pioneer Valley Chapter has gone from 22 employees handling calls from military families to 28 on its way to a full staff of 35.

“I know it is not easy,” Brown told a training class Tuesday. “These are difficult cases.”

Brown said calls might involve financial need or other issues the Red Cross can address on its own.

But many calls cases involve the grave illness or imminent death of a loved one, Brown said. In those cases, Red Cross employees must first call the hospital and verify the grave illness, then they contact military commanders and try to get service members to come home.

“Military commanders trust us,” Brown said. “They rely on our objectivity. That’s why the military doesn’t do this work on its own. We are an objective third party.”

Lee said people who work in the call center make $25,000 to $35,000 a year.

“We serve to fill a need,” call center staffer Bernice M. Stadtlander, of Ludlow, said. “It’s so satisfying just to be able to help.”

She also gets to notify military fathers of the birth of children.

“I look forward to that,” she said.

The Pioneer Valley Chapter already handles about 33,000 cases a year from military families around the clock and seven days a week. Those calls are generated here and at about 90 American Red Cross Chapters that send their Service to Armed Forces work to Pioneer Valley on a contract basis. Red Cross organizations started contracting with the Pioneer Valley Chapter 20 years ago as the military mobilized for the first Persian Gulf War.

In October, the American Red Cross announced that it was streamlining its Service to Armed Forces and closing its call center in Virginia and a number of other centers around the country. Instead, starting June 13, all calls from military families across the country will to either Springfield, Fort Sill, Okla., San Diego or Louisville, Ky., no matter what time they come in or from where.

All four locations will have the same computer system and the same training, Lee said. That way cases will be handled the same way no matter where they are handled.

Service to Armed Forces is separate from Red Cross disaster services, but calls from military families spike during natural disasters, Brown said.

“There are military families in Joplin, Mo.,” she said, referring to the devastating tornado that struck there on Sunday.

The boy’s mother, Julianne McCrery, faces a second-degree murder charge and is due back in court in New Hampshire.

File photo / Associated PressThis undated handout photo provided by family friend Shirley Miller shows Camden Hughes. Hughes' mother, Julianne McCrery is accused of killing the 6-year-old and leaving his body on a dirt road in Maine.

PORTLAND, Maine – The Maine woman who found the body of a 6-year-old boy beneath a blanket on a South Berwick back road is going to help officiate at his funeral in Texas.

The Portland Press Herald reported Wednesday that Linda Gove, who has worked as a missionary in Africa, will officiate Saturday at the funeral of Camden Hughes at the Calvary Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, Texas, along with Pastor Bill Skaar.

Gove discovered Camden’s body May 14.

Camden’s mother, 42-year-old Julianne McCrery, of Irving, Texas, was arrested in Massachusetts on May 17 and charged in New Hampshire with second-degree murder in her son’s death. He was asphyxiated.

Police believe he was killed in Hampton, N.H.

McCrery is scheduled to make a court appearance on Thursday.

"Twenty-five years and I'm still saying 'Thank you America,'" Winfrey said.

Associated PressMembers of the studio audience wait outside Harpo Studios before the final taping of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in Chicago, Tuesday, May 24, 2011.

CHICAGO — Oprah Winfrey walked on stage for her talk show finale Wednesday to a standing ovation from her studio audience before thanking her viewers for watching for a quarter of a century.

"Twenty-five years and I'm still saying 'Thank you America,'" Winfrey said. "Thank you so much. There are no words to match this moment."

Winfrey told them that sometimes she was a teacher, but more often her viewers taught her. She called the episode her "last class."

The show's first moment was a clip of Winfrey's first show. She taped the last episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Tuesday in Chicago.

Winfrey was the only person on stage with little background music and very short flashback clips.

"When she came out, her appearance, the way she stepped on stage and the message she brought about finding yourself, your purpose," said audience member Wanda Nash, 47, of Chicago, an executive assistant and foster parent. "It was all about Oprah."

Winfrey kissed and hugged her longtime partner, Stedman Graham, and made her way through the halls of Harpo Studios, saying goodbye to her staff, audience members said.

Winfrey announced in November 2009 that she would end her popular talk show after 25 years.

Tuesday's taping came a week after Hollywood's A-list and 13,000 fans bid Winfrey farewell during a double-episode extravaganza at Chicago's United Center. The shows that aired Monday and Tuesday included Aretha Franklin, Tom Cruise, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jordan and Madonna, among other stars of television, music and movies. They were just a few of the approximately 30,000 guests on the show over 25 years.

The bare-bones final taping had its share of celebrities in the audience including Tyler Perry, Maria Shriver, Suze Orman and Cicely Tyson, but none of them joined Winfrey on stage.

There were 404 audience members, according to Harpo Productions. The show received 1.4 million ticket requests throughout its final season, the company said.

The Tea Party Patriots are reminding teachers that a federal law requires public schools to teach Constitution lessons every Sept. 17.

Associated PressIn this photo taken Friday, May 20, 2011, Zeldon Nelson, the chief executive officer of the National Center for Constitutional Studies, poses in the shipping center located in the basement of his home on his 700-acre family farm just north of the Utah-Idaho border in Malta, Idaho. The Tea Party Patriots national umbrella group is promoting Nelson's center as a constitutional resource for public school children, but some groups including the Washington, D.C.-based Constitutional Accountability Center say using a group that believes the constitution is divinely inspired is "indoctrination, not education."

MALTA, Idaho — America's kids will be learning about the U.S. Constitution this coming school year with help from a decidedly conservative Idaho publishing house, if a tea party group gets its way.

The Tea Party Patriots, Georgia-based but claiming 1,000 chapters nationally, are instructing members to remind teachers that a 2004 federal law requires public schools to teach Constitution lessons every Sept. 17, commemorating the day the document was signed. And they'd like the teachers to use material from the Malta, Idaho-based National Center for Constitutional Studies, which promotes the Constitution as a divinely-inspired document.

The center's founder, W. Cleon Skousen, once called Jamestown's original settlers communists, wrote end-of-days prophecy and suggested Russians stole Sputnik from the United States. In 1987, one of his books was criticized for suggesting American slave children were freer than white non-slaves.

Interest in Skousen, a former FBI employee and Salt Lake City police chief who died in 2006 in Utah, soared in tea party circles after praise from talk show host Glenn Beck. Not surprisingly, groups battling the tea party — and Beck — warn that Skousen's center shouldn't be teaching kids about American history.

"It's indoctrination, not education," said Doug Kendall, director of the Constitutional Accountability Center in Washington, D.C. "They're so far from the mainstream of constitutional thought that they are completely indefensible."

Though the National Center for Constitutional Studies is best known for its promotion of Skousen's work, including "The 5,000 Year Leap," a 1981 book that suggests Biblical inspiration for the Constitution, those materials aren't included in the packet being touted by the Tea Party Patriots.

Instead, a $19.95 order buys "A More Perfect Union," a movie DVD created by Mormon-run BYU in 1989 depicting the 1787 Constitutional Convention, as well as an accompanying teacher's guide, a poster and a pocket-size Constitution.

Bill Norton, the Tea Party Patriots leader in charge of the group's "Adopt a School" push, gives seminars for the National Center for Constitutional Studies. He says the BYU movie was endorsed 20 years ago by the federal Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, proving its educational merit.

"It has the stamp of approval of this federal entity," Norton said, adding he's not demanding schools use it. "It's just a suggestion."

But not everyone is convinced the film and study guide are the best resources.

David Gray Adler, who directs the University of Idaho's McClure Center for Public Policy Research, said some of its assertions — that "Americans' confidence in republicanism stemmed largely from their shared commitment to Christianity," for example — exaggerates religion's impact on the framers while neglecting European enlightenment figures who shaped early American views on government.

"Give them (the Tea Party Patriots) credit for urging adherence to the federal law," Adler said. "But there are many other, better, more scholarly documents on the Constitution."

Another constitutional education group, the federally funded Center for Civic Education in Woodland Hills, Calif., suggested those unhappy with the Tea Party Patriot's choice of educational materials should promote alternatives.

"The Tea Party Patriots are doing what Americans are supposed to do," said Robert Leming, who directs his group's "We The People" program. "What that should do is encourage others of a different point of view to do the same thing."

The current leader of the National Center for Constitutional Studies, Zeldon Nelson, met Skousen in the mid-1980s, when the author was raising money for his latest book, "The Making of America." Nelson said he took over amid financial difficulties after sales-damaging criticism of the book, including from then-California Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, over its characterization of slavery.

Asked if the Tea Party Patriots' push is helping sales, Nelson responded, "I would have to say, probably no." But he anticipates business could pick up closer to the school year.

Today, there's a question over whether Nelson has a right to distribute the BYU-produced materials. And further complicating matters is an acrimonious lawsuit between Skousen's adult children and Nelson over rights to Skousen's work,

Three years ago, BYU canceled a longstanding licensing agreement with Nelson because he wasn't paying royalties.

"They didn't send in reports for some years," said Giovanni Tata, director of BYU's copyright department in Provo, Utah.

Nelson says he's contacted BYU and aims to resolve the matter, though he hasn't reached an agreement yet.

Meanwhile, Skousen's sons are fighting Nelson in federal court in Utah after enlisting Glenn Beck to write a new preface for the "The 5,000 Year Leap." After that, tea party adherents pushed the book to No. 1 on Amazon.com's sales charts in 2009.

Now, Paul, Brent and Harold Skousen contend Nelson is selling a version without Beck's preface without proper permission, interfering with their efforts to strike lucrative new deals.

Nelson, who farms 700 acres of wheat in this windy Mormon farming community near the Idaho-Utah border, says in a countersuit that Skousen granted publication rights to the center. He also maintains he contacted Beck first, but that Skousen's sons went behind Nelson's back to cash in.

"Empires fall from within," Nelson said, standing amid the boxes of Skousen literature he ships from his basement. "That's where the jealousies originate."

Nelson maintains Beck had been promoting "The 5,000 Year Leap" even before lending his name to the family's version. That elevated profile, Nelson said, has helped him fulfill his life's work — teaching that God inspired the Constitution — to an audience broader than just Skousen devotees.

"It's helped us preach beyond the choir," Nelson said.

The Tea Party Patriots' Norton would also like to wrest the Constitution from the hands of secular scholars.

"They're eliminating God out of the whole political discussion 100 percent, which is going to the other extreme," he said.

The budget had to be refigured after voters rejected two override questions last month.

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SUNDERLAND – Town officials are cutting line items in the proposed fiscal 2012 budget, expecting increased revenues and dipping into the town’s free cash to fill a $281,655 gap left after voters defeated two overrides in the May 7 election.

Residents will decide on a $6.83 million balanced budget at a special town meeting on Monday, June 6, at 7 p.m. at Sunderland Elementary School.

The fiscal 2012 budget was approved by voters in April on the condition that the overrides passed. Both failed. They would have raised the money to present a balanced budget to the Department of Revenue by July 1, in accordance with state law, and to supplement the stabilization fund.

“We need to plug that hole,” said Town Administrator Margaret Nartowicz.

The new budget proposal contains line item cuts totaling $127,814 from the original, $60,717 in new revenues and a request to use $93,124 of free cash.

In free cash, $204,259 is currently available. The proposal would drop that to $103,135 if passed. In fiscal 2011, $100,452 in free cash and $44,323 from the stabilization fund was used to balance the budget.

The town had expected reductions in state aid, but has now “bumped up its projections closer to what the Senate Ways and Means (Committee) budget is now,” said Nartowicz.

Line item reductions from the original fiscal 2012 budget include an $8,122 projected energy savings for town buildings, $59,407 from Sunderland Elementary School and $46,399 less to pay off debt and interest, according to documents released Tuesday.

The elementary school budget would be $2.05 million, a $23,632 increase from fiscal 2011’s final figure. One of the overrides had $47,000 earmarked for the school.

Of the $46,399 cut from loan and interest payments, $44,400 comes in the form of debt deferral until the beginning of fiscal 2013. The remainder is the elimination of funding for interest on short-term debt, meaning the town treasurer would not be allowed to borrow money without going through a source such as the reserve fund, said Nartowicz.

The budget also contains a 2 percent pay raise for many non-union town employees who took salary and hours cuts in 2009 due to failed overrides.

“There is a call to give these employees a cost-of-living increase,” said Nartowicz, who said it still would leave those employees with 3 percent less pay than before it was cut.

Selectboard chairman Scott A. Bergeron and Sunderland Elementary School principal Timothy Merritt did not return requests for comment.

All told about 50 white-collar jobs will remain in East Longmeadow, Charness said . The plant will still have about 700 production workers making iconic games like Monopoly and Life.

EAST LONGMEADOW – Hasbro Inc. will eliminate 145 marketing and games development and administration jobs from its East Longmeadow facility, the company announced today.

Of those jobs, 70 will move to Hasbro’s headquarters in Rhode Island and another 75 will be eliminated outright. Some of the layoffs occurred immediately and they will all be completed by the end of this year, said spokesman Wayne S. Charness.

All told about 50 white-collar jobs will remain in East Longmeadow, Charness said . The plant will still have about 700 production workers making iconic games like Monopoly and Life.

Hasbro is creating a “center for excellence” in games development for both traditional board games and digital games in Rhode Island, Charness said.

More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.

The victims include Francisco Lozano, 46, of Springfield, and William Hoskin, 66, of Westfield.

Republican file photo

HOLYOKE – Two drivers involved in a head-on crash on Route 202 Sunday night, a 46-year-old Springfield man and a 66-year-old Westfield man, remained in critical condition Wednesday at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.

Interim Police Chief Frederick J. Seklecki identified the two men as Francisco Lozano, of Cleveland Street, Springfield, and William Hoskin, of Joyce Drive, Westfield.

Police said on the night of the crash, which occurred about 5:30 p.m. near Apremont Highway, that six people had been taken to hospitals. Seklechi said that Lozano and Hoskin were the most seriously injured.

The only information that Seklechi could provide on the other four victims was that Susan Hoskin suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Witnesses told police that Lozano’s 1994 Honda Accord crossed a solid double line and hit Hoskin’s 2007 Hundai Sonata head-on.

“It appears they issued a citation for Lozano for operating to endanger,” Seklecki said, reading from the accident report.

Investigators continue to probe the accident. “I think that there will be further investigation to see what caused him to go over the line,” he said.

Police closed Route 202 for more than five hours while they investigated the crash.

Additional information on the crash was not immediately available.

He was convicted, however, of assault and battery in a conflict with Daniel Kerrigan, at the family’s home in Stoneham.

Photos by Bill Greene / Associated Press / poolMark Kerrigan, right, looks at his family with defense attorney Hank Brennan at the end of the day of his involuntary manslaughter trial at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn. Tuesday. The jury acquitted him of manslaughter charges Wednesday.

WOBURN – The brother of figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was acquitted Wednesday of manslaughter in the death of their 70-year-old father by a jury that apparently agreed with his defense that his father died of heart disease.

Mark Kerrigan, 46, was convicted, though, of assault and battery in a January 2010 conflict with his father, Daniel Kerrigan, at the family’s home in Stoneham, just north of Boston.

Nancy Kerrigan and her mother, Brenda, embraced and cried after the verdict was read; the skater had supported her brother and attended every day of the weeklong trial in Woburn Superior Court.

Mark Kerrigan is to be sentenced Thursday; the maximum is 2½ years in prison.

Prosecutors said Mark Kerrigan caused his father’s death after he grabbed him around the neck with such force that he broke cartilage in his father’s larynx and triggered heart failure.

Kerrigan’s defense lawyers, however, cited medical experts who testified that Daniel Kerrigan had 85 percent to 100 percent blockage of three main coronary arteries and that the cardiac dysrhythmia that killed him likely began before he had any physical interaction with his son.

Nancy Kerrigan, right, rubs her mother Brenda's back as the jury is released for the day in her brother Mark Kerrigan's involuntary manslaughter trial at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Tuesday.

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Keeley told the jury that despite his coronary artery disease, Daniel Kerrigan remained physically active right up until his death. She cited testimony from the state’s chief medical examiner, who said there was no doubt in his mind that Daniel Kerrigan died after a fight that sent his heart into a fatal dysrhythmia.

“It took this defendant – an angry, mean, nasty, drunk son of his – to take Daniel Kerrigan down, to end his life,” Keeley said.

Brenda Kerrigan testified that she saw her husband grab her son by his shoulders, then saw her son with his arms around his father’s waist in a kind of “bear hug.” She said the altercation had lasted only seconds when she saw her husband fall to the floor “like a feather coming right out of the sky.”

Police testified that Mark Kerrigan told them he grabbed his father around the neck during the altercation. The defense said the injury to Daniel Kerrigan’s neck could have been caused when emergency medical personnel put a tube down his throat or after he died during an autopsy, when his larynx was removed.

Nancy Kerrigan won a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, and the silver at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. At the U.S. Championships in 1994, an assailant clubbed her right knee during practice. An investigation revealed that rival Tonya Harding had knowledge of the planning of the attack.

Police arrested the three suspects on Tuesday afternoon.

Robert Quiles

Madeline Perez

SPRINGFIELD – Police, surveilling the corner of Dwight Street Extension and Saratoga Street on Tuesday afternoon, said they arrested a 26-year-old city man and two city woman after observing a heroin sale.

Sgt. John M. Delaney said narcotics officers were focusing their attention on a suspect who was reportedly dealing drugs near the Saratoga Street Mini-Mart.

Delaney said Officer Richard Soto, a detective, saw the male suspect make sales to two woman who walked up to the corner. .

Ana Castro

Police separately arrested the women after they left the area and found bags of heroin on them

Police seized 14 bags of heroin and $35 from suspect Richard Quiles, of 63 Wilcox St., Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said. Quiles was charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute and two counts of distribution of heroin.

The women, Ana Castro, also known as Ana Santos, 37, of 120 Stafford St.; and Madeline Perez, 49, of 7 Marble St., were both charged with possession of heroin.

Selectmen will take up the issue at the June 6th meeting.

File photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanTwo Wilbraham residents think the Grange Hall would be a great place for an agricultural museum.

WILBRAHAM – Two residents say they believe an agricultural museum would be an ideal use of Grange Hall.

The town has been trying unsuccessfully to find a use for the building.

Voters at the annual Town Meeting gave selectmen authorization to dispose of Grange Hall at 485 Main Street, provided they return to the Town Meeting if they want to demolish the building.

The Board of Selectmen has been seeking a re-use for the building since it took it over from the Wilbraham Grange in 2004 after the Wilbraham Grange announced it was merging with the Palmer Grange.

Selectmen Chairman Patrick J. Brady said the Board of Selectmen will discuss the options for the building at its June 6th meeting.

Gerda Trzeciha who served on the Grange Hall Study Committee told selectmen Monday that a museum would be a perfect use for the building.

Llewellyn Merrick, a longtime vegetable farmer in town, said he envisions an agricultural museum like the agricultural museum in Hadley.

“I’ve been told that young people are not interested in agriculture, but when there are no more farms left in the area, future generations of young people may be interested in agriculture,” Merrick said.

Merrick said he has a lot of farm tools which he would donate to the museum. He said there also are farm tools from the former Rice fruit stand on Main Street.

The building needs about $175,000 worth of work, Merrick said.

He said that before it could be re-used, the building would have to be made accessible to the handicapped, including rest rooms.

It would be difficult to get grants for the work because the area has not been declared a historic district, but Merrick said he believes Community Preservation Act tax funds collected from Wilbraham residents could be used for the project.

The town’s agricultural past is a part of history and should be preserved, Trzeciha said.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Linda E. Mol

Linda E. (Wytrych) Mol, 52, of Ludlow, died Saturday. Born in Holyoke, she was the daughter of Helen and Edward Wytrych. She attended school in Holyoke and graduated from Holyoke High School, Holyoke Community College, Western New England college and American International College. She served her country in the United States Air Force and was honorably discharged. A communicant of St. Elizabeth Parish she worked for the Stop & Shop in Holyoke and for the MassMutual Financial Group. She later volunteered her services at Mercy Hospital, the American Red Cross in Springfield, and in the Ludlow School System.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• Cahill, John F.




• 
  Champagne, Steven D.
  



• 
  Connor, Charles J.
  




• Cook Jr., William J.
  




• 
  Hadaway, Jennie (Calvert)
  



• 
  Hurlbut, Catherine R.




• 
  Levenson, Ruth L.
  



• 
  Lockwood, Kenneth J.
  




• Mol, Linda (Wytrych)
  




• 
  Partyka, Donald Walter Paul "Don"
  



• 
  Penza, Stanley J.




• 
  Sherman, Audrey R.
  



• 
  Tessier, Margaret T. (Paul)
  




• Toner III, Dr. Cornelius A. "Neil"
  




• 
  Vlastos, John
  



• 
  Williams, Emma Lee (Jackson)




• 
  Wright, Annie Belle Jones
  



• 
  Wright, Gregory E.
  

The Board of Appeals ruled it would be a hardship for CVS were it not able to mount a second wall sign on the building it has under construction at Riverdale Street and Morgan Road.

File photo by Don Treeger / The RepublicanConstruction on a new CVS/pharmacy on Riverdale Street in West Springfield has progressed significantly since this photo was taken in March.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Board of Appeals has approved a variance that will allow CVS to put up a second wall sign at the building it is constructing at Riverdale Street and Morgan Road.

Building codes allow for only one wall sign at a business.

However, Daniel J. Finnegan, the attorney for Poyant Signs of New Bedford, argued that more than one wall sign is needed because the building will have frontage on three sides — on Pierce Street as well as on Riverdale Street and Morgan Road.

Finnegan argued that the situation meets the definition of a financial hardship because allowing only one sign would not alert people traveling down Morgan Street to the store.

“There are some unusual circumstances surrounding this lot,” Board of Appeals Chairwoman Lisa M. Beavais said.

“Businesses have to be appropriately identified,” board member Christine M. Kumiega said. “If there needs to be an amendment to the bylaw than so be it.”

Beauvais said the second sign is needed to allow the store to attract customers.

Finnegan has also argued that the second sign is needed for motorists who must safely navigate and enter the parking area from the three roads, all of which are heavily traveled.

The board voted 3-0 Monday on a motion by Beauvais to allow the second wall sign. It also agreed that support structures around a freestanding sign for both CVS and Bank of America will not be considered part of the sign as far as calculating the sign’s square footage goes. Not counting the supports, the signs total within the 50-square-foot limit allowed by bylaws.

The new CVS store will also have a wall sign on the Riverdale Street side of the building.

Edwards could still strike a plea deal to avoid an indictment, said a source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the case's sensitivity.

File photo / Associated PressFormer Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is seen in Raleigh, N.C., in December.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Federal prosecutors have completed a wide-ranging investigation into John Edwards' political dealings and could indict the two-time presidential candidate within days, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

Edwards could still strike a plea deal to avoid an indictment, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the case's sensitivity.

Federal investigators have been probing Edwards for more than two years. Their interest has spanned much of Edwards' political career, looking into issues such as whether he did anything improper during his time in the U.S. Senate. And it looked into a network of organizations connected to Edwards, including a nonprofit, political action committees and a so-called 527 political group.

Much of the investigation, however, focused on money that eventually went to keep mistress Rielle Hunter in hiding along with former campaign aide Andrew Young, who claimed paternity of Hunter's child in 2007 so that Edwards could continue his White House campaign without the affair tarnishing his reputation. Investigators have been looking at whether those funds should have been considered campaign donations since they arguably aided his presidential bid.

Justice Department officials in Washington had been reviewing the case in recent weeks.

The U.S. attorney in Raleigh declined to comment Wednesday. An Edwards spokeswoman did not immediately return a message seeking comment, though his attorneys have said they are confident the former North Carolina senator did not violate campaign finance laws.

Young has said that Edwards agreed in the middle of 2007 to solicit money directly from Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, the 100-year-old widow of banking heir Paul Mellon. Young has said he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks from Mellon, some of them hidden in boxes of chocolate.

Mellon's attorney has said she didn't know where the money was going but intended it as a personal gift.

Investigators also looked at money spent by Edwards' former campaign finance chairman, Fred Baron, who died in 2008. He previously said he helped Young and Hunter move across the country. Baron said that Edwards wasn't aware of the aid, but Young said in a book that Edwards was aware of Baron's money.

Hunter was hired in 2006 to shoot video of Edwards as he prepared for his second White House bid. Records show her video production firm earned about $100,000. An attorney for Edwards has said one of his nonprofits, the Center for Promise and Opportunity, shared the costs of the video work and paid a similar amount.

Edwards initially denied having an affair with Hunter but eventually admitted to it in the summer of 2008, several months after he had dropped out of the presidential race. He continued to deny fathering a child with Hunter until last year. His wife, Elizabeth, died of cancer in December.

Police arrested the pair at about 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Juan Gonzalez

SPRINGFIELD – Police said they arrested a 54-year-old suspected drug dealer at Main and Hampden streets Wednesday and found him to be in possession of a number of pharmaceuticals. including Xanax and Suboxon pills.

Sgt. John M. Delaney said narcotics detectives arrested both the suspected dealer and his alleged customer, a 22-year-old woman from the Feeding Hills section of Agawam, after witnessing a drug transaction at about 9:30 a.m.

Juan R. Gonzalez, of 893 Armory St., 1st floor, was charged with distribution of pharmaceuticals (a Class E substance) and possession of pharmaceuticals with intent to distribute.

Stephanie Peluso

Both denied the charges in district court and both were ordered to return to court on June 13 for pre-trial hearings.

Gonalez was ordered held in lieu of $2,500 cash bail and Peluso, $1,000 personal surety.

Glenn Caffery hopes to raise $25,000 for Alzheimer's research on his cross country run.

Photo by Diane Lederman / The RepublicanUniversity of Massachusetts lecturer Glenn Caffery is running 3,312 miles cross country to raise money for Alzheimer's research. His will wear 10 pairs of Asics Gel-DS Trainers - one of which is pictured here.

AMHERST - Glenn Caffery will need the energy of 112,000 M & M’s to do what he needs to do - run 3,3121 from the west coast to the east.

Caffery, 49, who teaches in the resources economics department at the University of Massachusetts, flew to Seaside, Ore. last week to begin his run to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s and to connect with other’s whose lives have also been affected by the disease that killed his father nine years ago.

Caffery is running alone, carrying all his gear - a light tent, food and drink and some belongings- in his stroller donated by Baby Jogger. He said he ran with a similar stroller more than 20 years ago when his daughters were young.

His wife will mail one pair of new Asics Gel-DS Trainer running shoes to general delivery at a post office each week - Northampton Running Authority gave him a great deal, he said, on the 10 pairs he needs for the run.

“I love running,” he said a day before he flew out. He said he likes to explore while running. “I love meeting new people,” he said. He feels it will be easier to meet people along the way by making the journey alone. He is hoping to stay with people he meets or with friends of friends and his daughters - Celia Caffery in Minneapolis and Emily Caffery in Ann Arbor.

He plans to run on average 50 miles a day arriving in Misquamicut, R.I. in 10 weeks. The run will give him time “to reflect on my dad’s experience” and to raise money.

He said for the first time, he’s hopeful that science is understanding more about the disease, which is why he’s running now. “In the last couple of years, there have been important insights.” They’ve identified key genes which might make the disease more likely for example. “They have things they know and ways of asking the questions.”

And he said he’s running hoping to “save my daughters from having to deal with it.”

His father Richard was diagnosed when he was just 55 in 1989 and lived with it for 13 years. Caffery said there was no history of the disease in his father’s family.

“I don’t think people appreciate the awfulness of Alzheimer’s. It’s full of suffering,” he said. “It’s a horrible, horrible disease.” He feels that “Alzheimer’s stories need to be told.”

His blog will chronicle his journey and he’s asking people to post their stories there as well. Some already have. People can donate there as well. Every dollar donated to Cure Alzheimer’s Fund will find research, he said. He’s hoping to raise $25,000.

Caffery has been running for about 30 years - his longest race a 50-miler, he said he’s run 27 miles from his Leyden home to UMass a couple of times. He said he expects his body will adapt as he runs. He’ll decide once he starts how many miles he’ll run at a time. “I want to see how my body would respond.”

His friend, UMass kinesiology professor Barry Braun helped him calculate that he will need to eat about 7,000 calories - a day to keep from losing weight. He’s 5 feet 10 inches and weighs about 140 pounds.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde will run for the head of the I.M.F., a position recently vacated by Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Associated PressThis undated picture made available by Lockheed Martin via NASA shows the assembly and testing of the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle at Lockheed Martin's Vertical Testing Facility in Colorado. On Tuesday, May 24, 2011, NASA unveiled a new name for its previously planned moon capsule.

• NASA develops capsule for future space missions [BBC.co.uk]


• Former Gov. Patrick secretary of administration and finance was pushed to pass DiMasi software deal [BostonHerald.com]


• French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde announces candidacy for top I.M.F. job [NYTimes.com]


• The top 10 fittest cities in America [Courant.com]


Associated PressResidents of Joplin, Mo, walk west on 26th Street near Maiden Lane after a tornado hit the southwest Missouri city on Sunday evening, May 22, 2011. The tornado tore a path a mile wide and four miles long destroying homes and businesses.
• Women dies after being told of father's death in Joplin, Mo. tornado [MSNBC.com]


• Mass. State Police want driver who struck cop in hit and run to turn himself in [Boston.com]


• Twitter posts tagged #westernma in Western Mass. [MassLive.com]


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Juvenile court already has some programs to educate students found guilty of harassing others.

Mary-Elizabeth Pniak-Costello

CHICOPEE – The School Committee is asking Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni to create a rehabilitation program designed for those found guilty of bullying.

A year ago state lawmakers adopted an anti-bullying law that calls for all schools to have bullying prevention programs and requires all principals to take appropriate disciplinary action and notify parents of the victim and the aggressor in a case of bullying.

Principals must also notify police if they believe the bullying is so severe it is criminal.

But even if a student is found guilty of breaking the law, the court has no rehabilitation program that a judge can require the violator to attend. For other criminals there are rehabilitation courses, such as anger management classes frequently assigned to people found guilty of assault or driving school classes for those found guilty of operating under the influence of alcohol, said School Committee member Mary-Elizabeth Pniak-Costello, who also works as a probation officer.

“In regards to bullying and harassment there is no program,” Pniak-Costello said.

The proposal comes after five South Hadley teens pleaded guilty to harassing freshman Phoebe Prince, who later committed suicide in 2010. The five admitted misdemeanor charges, mostly criminal harassment, and were mostly sentenced to some term of community service and probation.

Fellow probation officers and others are now talking about the lack of a program so Pniak-Costello said she believed the School Committee should take the lead in asking for one.

Members passed the proposal to request the Hampden district attorney develop a program in a 12-0 vote.

“I think it is a good, positive idea and informally we have been trying to do something like that,” Mastroianni said.

There are already some programs run through juvenile court that students found guilty of harassing others are required to attend. The Probation Department also has many programs that address the underlying behavior that causes bullying, he said.

Bullying encompasses violation of different laws such as simple assault and battery or harassment so it is not as simple as creating one educational program, he said.

“Because this continues to evolve, the Massachusetts’ district attorneys offices have had input on this to find out what is the most effective way to not only deal with the victims of bullying but the perpetrators as well,” Mastroianni said.

The 2 nominees for clerk magistrate would each receive $110,000 a year for life.

mass.govGreenfield District Court, left, and Northampton District Court, right.

BOSTON – Gov. Deval L. Patrick today nominated two people for $110,000-a-year, lifetime clerk magistrate's jobs in Western Massachusetts.

Patrick nominated Kenneth H. Chaffee of Colrain to be clerk magistrate in Greenfield District Court and Darren Alston to be clerk-magistrate in Northampton District Court.

Alston, a graduate of Greenfield Community College and Fitchburg State College, is currently acting clerk magistrate in Greenfield District Court. He also attends the private Massachusetts School of Law in Andover. Alston started as a procedures clerk in Orange District Court in 1993 and worked his way up to become acting clerk magistrate at Orange District in 1999.

Chaffee, a lawyer with a solo legal practice in Shelburne, is a former assistant district attorney in the Northwestern District Attorney's office for nearly three years until 1990. He's had his solo legal practice since 1990.

Chaffee obtained his bachelor's degree from Western New England College in Springfield in 1984 and his law degree from the same college's law school in 1987.

The nominations will go to the Govenor's Council for votes on whether to confirm them. The council will interview Chaffee on June 8 and Alston on June 15.

Patrick said he was proud to announce the nominations. Clerk magistrates have no mandatory retirement age, unlike judges, who must retire at 70.

“These nominees have the experience, leadership skills and demeanor to be excellent district court clerk magistrates,” Patrick said in a statement.