Since the new indictments were handed down last July, the two sides have been wrestling over the evidence in a series of motions and pretrial conferences.

Anthony Baye appears for his status conference on Thursday.

Photo by Mark M. Murray / The Republican

GUIDE TO BAYE TRIAL

Greg Saulmon, The Republican’s assistant online editor, has created a comprehensive online guide to the Anthony Baye trial. The guide includes an interactive timeline of events related to the Northampton arson fires, a map of the fires, documents related to the trial and profiles of the attorneys involved in the case.

Click here: » Guide to the Anthony Baye trial  

SPRINGFIELD — The long-awaited murder and arson trial of Anthony P. Baye is scheduled to begin with jury selection in Hampden Superior Court on Monday, some 3 ½ years after Northampton was terrorized by a night of fire.

In the early hours of Dec. 27, 2009, barely two days after Christmas, the rainy night was lit up with house and vehicle fires. Authorities later counted 15 blazes in all. Baye, 28, is charged with setting every one of them, plus five earlier fires in 2009.

For people living in and around the city’s Ward 3, the fires were horrifying because there had been other unexplained fires in the neighborhood over the previous several years. Lots of them. Two years before the night of terror, Ward 3 residents met with police and fire officials and then-Mayor Mary Clare Higgins to voice their fears and demand answers. The meeting was held at the Hampshire Educational Collaborative offices on Hawley Street, next door to the 85 Hawley St. house where Baye lived with his parents.

Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan has called Baye's case the biggest trial in five decades in Northampton.

With the city on high alert after the Dec. 27 fires, police and arson investigators from throughout the state gathered in Northampton. One of the fires, a blaze that destroyed 17 Fair St., took the lives of Paul Yeskie Sr., 81, and his son, Paul Yeskie Jr., 39. The bodies of the two men were found by a window through which they were apparently trying to escape. A harrowing 911 call, preserved on tape, records Paul Yeskie Jr. screaming for his life as the flames closed in.

Baye is charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of the Yeskies, in addition to numerous counts of arson. The trial was originally set to take place in Northampton, with a Hampden County jury transported from Springfield and back every day. However, Judge Constance Sweeney decided to hold the proceedings in Hampden Superior Court, saying the logistics of moving the jurors back and forth was not conducive to an effective trial.

Police had focused on Baye within days of the Dec. 27 fires, in part because he was stopped twice by police that night while driving in that area. On Jan. 4, 2010, state police trooper Michael Mazza, and state police Sgt. Paul Zipper, veteran arson investigators, questioned Baye for 10 hours. The interview, most of which was recorded on video, shows Baye appearing to confess to several of the fires, even going so far as to circle the ones he set. Defense lawyers argued that the troopers overstepped the accepted bounds of police interrogation and appealed to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. The SJC ruled in Baye’s favor, tossing the confession and most of the interview.

Brett Vottero, who was brought in specially by the Northwestern District Attorney to prosecute the case, dropped nearly all the charges against Baye soon after but brought the case back before a grand jury immediately. This time, Vottero secured indictments not only for the Dec. 27 fires but for 12 other fires set in the area between 2007 and that night. Judge Constance Sweeney has separated prosecution of the 2007 fires from the trial on the 2009 fires.

Since the new indictments were handed down in July, the two sides have been wrestling over the evidence in a series of motions and pretrial conferences. Defense lawyers David P. Hoose and Thomas Lesser won Sweeney’s ruling about the 2007 fires and were successful in their request that Vottero be barred from presenting the lack of fires in the area since Baye’s arrest as evidence of his guilt. Sweeney denied their motion to dismiss the charges, however, and will admit testimony of a conversation between Baye and his parents after he was arrested. In that exchange, the defendant gave an equivocal response when his father asked if he was at the Yeskies’ home on the night of the fire.

The judge has also ruled that Mazza will not be allowed to tell the jury that the Dec. 27 fires and the five earlier ones in 2009 were, in his expert opinion, the work of a single arsonist. Mazza, who has investigated most of the major fires in Western Massachusetts over a long career, has emerged as a central witness in the Baye case. With Baye’s confession ruled out of evidence, the prosecution had relied on Mazza to tie Baye to the fires, particularly the earlier ones. Sweeney on Monday will revisit the question of whether the earlier 2009 fires will remain part of the case starting Monday.

Opening statements are scheduled for Wednesday, followed by a view of the crime scene by the jury. The prosecution will begin calling witnesses on Thursday.

One session will focus on social aspects of the proposal, while the second will be a question and answer session.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Representatives of Hard Rock International will present two informal programs Wednesday about the $800 million casino resort project it would like to build on the Eastern States Exposition campus.

The first will be about the social impacts of the proposal and will take place starting at 5:30 p.m. in the municipal building before the mayor's casino advisory committee and town council casino mitigation committee.

The second will be at 7 p.m. at the Tatham Memorial Club at 3 Paul St. Presenters will address issues and answer questions from the audience.

Mayor Richard A. Cohen says that his proposed capital spending for 2014-1018 is a wish list.

AGAWAM – Bonding to renovate bathrooms and locker rooms at the high school as well as to create a new Early Childhood Center are among the projects in Mayor Richard A. Cohen’s fiscal 2014-2018 proposed capital improvement program.

Richard A. Cohen 

Those projects, at $2,085,000 and $4 million respectively, are part of the capital ventures the mayor has proposed be approved for bonding by the City Council in fiscal year 2014. That financial year starts on July 1. The mayor recently sent material on his proposed capital improvement projects to the City Council for review.

Capital projects are those costing at least $20,000 and that have a life expectancy of 10 years financing or more, according to the mayor’s proposal.

”It is our wish list and best estimate of projects that need to be done,” Cohen said Monday of his proposed package.

The proposal states that the locker rooms and bathrooms at Agawam High School need to be refurbished to meet federal Title IX requirements. It also states that the Early Childhood Center has outgrown its quarters on Perry Lane. “A new facility is needed to allow for much needed additional classroom space as well as to provide for private bathroom and changing rooms for small children and an area for teachers to meet with parents,” the mayor’s proposal states.

The first-year debt service on the high school project is estimated at $198,825 and that on the Early Childhood Center at $380,000.

Also among the projects proposed to be funded out of the general fund starting in fiscal 2014 are Pine Street Road improvements at $524,000 and Suffield Street drainage improvements at $300,000. The Pine Street Road improvements, rehabilitation, grading and resurfacing, need to be done as part of phase II of the Feeding Hills Southwest sewer extension project. The Suffield Street work is needed to provide adequate drainage during storms. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency may pay for part of the project, according to the proposal.

The proposal for fiscal 2014 also calls for tapping the wastewater fund for the first-year debt service of $1,016,500 of the $10.7 million Phase II of the Feeding Hills Southwest sewer roject and $28,500 as the first-year debt service on the $300,000 Westfield River force main design project.

The proposal also calls for tapping the water fund for North Westfield Street water main construction, projected at $4,880,000 with a first-year debt service payment of $463,600.

It seeks to take $315,000 from the golf course enterprise fund for golf carts, with first-year debt service coming to $77,175.

Rodriguez had surgery Jan. 16 and could return to the Yankees after the All-Star break.

TAMPA, Fla. – Alex Rodriguez is back on the field for the first time since surgery on his left hip almost four months ago.

He joined a group of injured New York Yankees starters Monday at the team’s minor league complex. The 37-year-old third baseman ran, played catch and hit off a tee.

Rodriguez said it’s “like being 8 years old again when I first grabbed a bat.” He added it’s “pretty exciting” and he’s “really looking forward to getting back.”

Rodriguez had surgery Jan. 16 and could return to the Yankees after the All-Star break. A surgeon repaired a torn labrum and impingement in the operation in New York.

“It feels good to be back out in uniform,” Rodriguez said. “It’s been a rough stretch with the rehab, obviously. It’s small bites at a time.”

Rodriguez is currently taking part in a 30-day rehab schedule setup by his doctors and team officials.

“We’re taking it four weeks at a time,” Rodriguez said. “Today is one of 30.”

The upbeat A-Rod signed autographs and took photos with around 40 fans waiting for him outside the player’s parking lot. Fans driving by stopped their car near the complex driveway and jumped out to have photos taken.

“I have a lot of unfinished business,” said Rodriguez, who struggled offensively late last season. “I’m really looking forward to getting back on the field close to 100 percent and being who I am.”

Outfielder Curtis Granderson (broken right forearm), first baseman Mark Teixeira (right wrist), corner infielder Kevin Youkilis (lumbar spine sprain), and catcher Francisco Cervelli (broken hand) are also rehabbing injuries in Florida.

“It’s great seeing him,” Teixeira said. “He’s just happy to be back, doing some baseball activities. He’s got a big smile on his face right now, which is great.”

Shortstop Derek Jeter is also on the disabled list with a broken ankle, and is not expected back until after the All-Star break.

“We always talk about injuries are a part of the game, but this is crazy” Rodriguez said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. But I’ve got to tell you, the way those guys are playing up there, the job the front office has done putting these guys together at the last minute, hats off to everyone.”

The Miami New Times reported this year that Rodriguez bought human growth hormone and other performance-enhancing substances in recent years from Biogenesis of America LLC, a now-closed clinic in Coral Cables, near the three-time AL MVP’s offseason home.

Rodriguez has denied the allegations.

“I can only control what I can control,” Rodriguez said. “I’m really focusing on all the great things that have happened in the game. I’m really focused on getting healthy, and just getting back and helping the Yankees win a championship.”

A 14-time All-Star, Rodriguez had right hip surgery on March 9, 2009, and returned that May 8. He is due $114 million over the next five years as part of his $275 million, 10-year contract.

Jeter found out he fractured his left ankle for a second time in six months on April 18. At that time the Yankees said the team captain should be able to resume his rehabilitation when the new crack heals in about four to eight weeks.

Out since injuring his wrist with the U.S. on March 5 before the World Baseball Classic, Teixeira took batting practice in an indoor cage and hopes to start on-field BP in the next few days.

“I’m very, very happy with where I am right now,” Teixeira said.

Granderson, who broke the arm Feb. 24 in his first at-bat of spring training when he was hit by a pitch from Toronto’s J.A. Happ, is playing in extended spring training games and expected to rejoin the team this month.

Youkilis is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list on May 13. Cervelli broken his hand April 26 and is expected to miss at least six weeks.

This is one of a series of major drug arrests Holyoke police have made this spring.

HOLYOKE — City police raided a home on 186 Suffolk St. and arrested five people on a variety of drug charges and seized crack cocaine, heroin, marijuana and prescription pills.

The five people, Joel Rojas, 37; Johan Colon, 29; Yashira Rivera, 26; Samara Vazquez, 26 and Angel Rojas, 42, were arraigned in Holyoke District Court on Monday. Arraignment information was not available Monday night.

Four of the five people arrested live at 186 Suffolk and Colon lives at 60 N. East St., said Lt. Matthew Moriarty.

All five were charged with possession of and possession to distribute heroin and cocaine, possession to distribute marijuana and drug violation near a school, Moriarty said.

The arrests, which were made at about 6:45 p.m., Friday after police executed a search of the building, came after a lengthy investigation into the distribution of heroin. It was a joint effort between the Holyoke Police narcotics division and community policing unit, the FBI Western Massachusetts Gang Task Force and the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force, Moriarty said.

This is the most recent of a series major drug arrests Holyoke Police have made this spring.

When raiding the home, police found more than $8,000 in cash, a variety of drugs and packaging material, digital scales and electronic surveillance equipment, Moriarty said.

Various tools of the illegal narcotics trade were found such as packaging material for distribution, narcotic cutting agents, digital scales and an electronic surveillance system, he said.

In a recent speech to the Greater Gardner Chamber of Commerce, Grossman said it seemed unfair that communities were excluded as Gateway Cities solely because their population was less than 35,000.

By BRUCE MOHL
CommonWealth magazine

State Treasurer Steven Grossman, a likely candidate for governor next year, is breathing new life into the debate over the criteria for designation as a Gateway City.

In a recent speech to the Greater Gardner Chamber of Commerce, Grossman said it seemed unfair that communities were excluded as Gateway Cities solely because their population was less than 35,000. The Gardner News, in a story headlined “Grossman supportive of ‘Gateway’ status for Chair City,” quoted the treasurer as saying he supports Gardner’s inclusion as a Gateway City “every step of the way.”

In an interview, Grossman said he is sympathetic to the pleas of smaller communities such as Gardner, North Adams, Orange, Athol and Greenfield that don’t qualify as Gateway Cities. He said he isn’t advocating a change in the membership criteria for Gateway Cities, but thinks the state needs to lend support in some way to these smaller communities. He said he hasn’t decided yet what form that support should take.

“There are a number of communities in the Commonwealth that exhibit most or all of the Gateway City characteristics other than population,” Grossman said. “These smaller communities need partners at the state level.”

The term Gateway Cities originally was coined to characterize municipalities across the state struggling economically in the shadow of Boston. Over time, state lawmakers decided these communities needed additional support and began setting aside special resources for the municipalities. The Gateway Cities legislation set the following membership criteria: a population between 35,000 and 250,000; a median household income below the statewide average, and a rate of educational attainment of a bachelor’s degree or higher that is below the state average.

Last summer, led by Mayor Mark Hawke of Gardner, several municipalities succeeded in winning legislative approval for lowering the Gateway City population requirement to 20,000, but Gov. Deval Patrick vetoed the change, saying it would dilute benefits available under the program. There are currently 26 Massachusetts municipalities that qualify as Gateway Cities, including Springfield, Worcester, Lowell, Lawrence, New Bedford, Fall River, Fitchburg, Brockton, Pittsfield, Holyoke and Haverhill.

Hawke said the Gateway Cities designation “has taken on an incredible life of its own.” He said it not only provides municipalities access to more state resources, but also economic development support. He said even the federal Environmental Protection Agency now refers to Gateway Cities in some of its documents. Hawke said he was encouraged by Grossman’s comments. “He understands the needs,” Hawke said. “He doesn’t have a complete answer yet.”

Grossman said many of the state’s smaller communities are facing the same problems and have many of the same raw materials as Gateway Cities, including a vocational education school and a community college nearby.

Sen. Benjamin Downing of Pittsfield, the cochair of the Gateway Cities Legislative Caucus, said he regularly hears the same concerns from smaller communities such as North Adams. But he is wary of taking a successful Gateway Cities program and watering its impact down by adding more members.

“I’m sympathetic to these concerns, but I don’t think we should change the definition,” Downing said.

"We're closer to finally announcing specifics," Northeast's community liaison James St. Amand said. "We're developing separately from the casino."

An artist's rendering of the proposed Mohegan Sun Massachusetts casino resort that would be built in Palmer off Massachusetts Turnpike Exit 8. 

PALMER - Northeast Realty is working with a new developer to create a hotel and restaurant, and potential office space, on 130 acres across from where Mohegan Sun wants to build a resort casino.

The land, according to Northeast consultant Paul Robbins, is immediately adjacent to the Massachusetts Turnpike exit 8 ramp on Thorndike Street. Part of the area slated for development is the old Rondeau ice house on Shearer Street, which previously was being eyed for a seafood restaurant.

Northeast is working with Cardinal's View LLC on the development, which Northeast's community liaison, James L. St. Amand, said will be developed separately from the casino.

Northeast is leasing 152 acres off Thorndike Street (Route 32) to Connecticut-based Mohegan for the casino. Mohegan is competing with MGM Resorts International in Springfield and Hard Rock International in West Springfield for the sole Western Massachusetts casino license.

According to a press release from Northeast, it either owns or controls the 130 acres in question. Northeast also owns the ice house property now, according to St. Amand.

However, the town's online assessor's records are still showing the former owner, KSJ Realty.

"We're closer to finally announcing specifics," St. Amand said. "We're developing separately from the casino."

According to Jeffrey E. Cunningham, manager of Cardinal’s View, “the development of these parcels right off of Exit 8 is long overdue. This exit is the last remaining on the pike that is undeveloped or under-developed. With the prospect of a 152-acre casino development, the economic development footprint will be larger than any of the other proposed casino developments with more non-gaming acreage than any of the proposed casino projects in the commonwealth."

Cunningham said the project will have an economic impact on Palmer, and the Springfield and Worcester areas.

“We are calling this the 'Gateway to Western Massachusetts,' the first exit on the turnpike in the four county region, and expect that the total investment in these properties, along with Mohegan Sun’s announced investment on the casino resort site could bring total investment to over $900 million," Cunningham said.

Mohegan has said it plans to build a resort casino in the $775 million range.

If approved by the city and state, voters would decide this fall if the term for City Council should expand from 2 years to 4 years.

SPRINGFIELD — A proposal to change the City Council term from two years to four years is back on the table, with proponents saying it makes sense to match the council with the mayor’s four-year-term in office and would save money.

As proposed, voters would be asked this fall, in a binding ballot question, if they favor having councilors serve a four-year term, beginning with the election of 2015.

The ballot question needs approval from the City Council and the mayor, and would then be forwarded for needed approval by the state Legislature and the governor in order to be on the fall ballot, officials said.

Currently, the mayor and School Committee have four-year terms, while the council has a two-year term. The mayor’s term expanded from two years to four years beginning with the 2011 election, as was approved by voters in 2009. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno won re-election in 2011 to the first four-year term, and previously served two, two-year terms.

Kateri WalshThe Republican [file] 

At-large Councilor Kateri B. Walsh, a lead sponsor, said it makes sense for all terms to coincide and to eliminate the need for councilors to run every two years. Supporters of the two-year term have said in the past that it improves accountability by having elected officials on the ballot every two years.

Walsh said the main reason for a four-year term is that it will save the city money, estimated at more than $200,000, if there is just one municipal election every four years, rather than one every two years.

“It’s just making everybody run at the same time, the same term,” Walsh said. “I think most people are sensitive to the cost of the city to run an election.”

A municipal election costs approximately $130,000 including staffing, ballot printing and paying poll workers, Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola said. Thus, a preliminary election in September and general election in November would roughly cost a combined $260,000.

In addition, having a local election without the mayor being on the ballot is a recipe for lower voter turnout, Walsh said. She also believes that multiple special elections and regular elections can lead to voter apathy and fatigue.

She and Councilor E. Henry Twiggs, another sponsor, said a four-year term allows councilors more time to put forward and follow proposals and ideas without continuously being up for re-election one year into their term.

“The problem for us, so often, as soon as the election is over, within a year, you are really campaigning again, and not given an opportunity to really be responsive to what the city needs,” Twiggs said.

The state would still have its elections every two years, conducted on the even-numbered years, scheduled 2014, 2016, 2018, and so forth.

Councilors also proposed the four-year term in 2011 and again last year, by way of a suggested binding ballot question, but the idea never came out of committee for a vote by the full council.

The initial sponsors of the four-year term are Melvin A. Edwards, Clodovaldo Concepcion, Zaida Luna, Walsh and Twiggs.

A lawyer for Christopher Hoffman raised questions about the credibility of a key witness for the prosecution, probation officer Maureen Adams.

WORCESTER - Christopher J. Hoffman, the acting chief probation officer in Hampshire Superior Court, told a probation officer under his supervision, Maureen Adams, that people would call her "a rat" after she told him she was going to meet with the FBI as part of an investigation of the state probation department, a prosecutor told jurors on Monday.

 

A lawyer for Hoffman, however, raised questions about the credibility of Adams, a Goshen resident. The defense lawyer said Adams was a professional rival of Hoffman in the probation department and that she was angry at Hoffman after he was promoted ahead of her and changed some of her working conditions.

In U.S. District Court in Worcester, a trial began on Monday for Hoffman, a Hatfield resident, in front of Judge Timothy S. Hillman.

Hoffman faces two counts of intimidating and harassing Adams in an attempt to obstruct a federal investigation into the hiring practices in probation. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in jail.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Fisher and Vincent A. Bongiorni of Springfield, lawyer for Hoffman, each gave opening statements to a jury of 10 men and 4 women, including two alternates.

Fisher said that after Hoffman and Adams met in October of 2011, Adams was "visibly upset and shaken." In addition to telling Adams that he would tell others she was a rat for meeting with the FBI, Fisher said, Hoffman also told Adams not to lie and that she could be in jail by the end of the week.

Fisher said that Hoffman knew that his own former boss, William H. Burke III of Hatfield, a state deputy probation commissioner, was a target of a federal investigation into probation and that he himself could face questions about how he obtained his job.

In a separate indictment of Burke, who is charged with being part of a fraudulent hiring system in probation, prosecutors allege that Burke sponsored Hoffman to be hired as a probation officer and he was hired even though he was not the most qualified candidate.

At one point, Hoffman called Adams and asked, "Who's side are you on? Are you with us or with them?," Fisher told jurors.

In his opening, Bongiorni said the government has a theory about the witness intimidation charges, but that it relies on the credibility of Adams.

Adams and Hoffman were both probation officers when Hoffman was appointed to be acting chief probation officer around 2009, Bongiorni said.

"Now, he was going to be her boss," Bongiorni said "He began to make Ms. Adams do her job."

Bongiorni said Hoffman no longer allowed Adams to take an hour for lunch. He also ended the practice of allowing Adams to take two days out of the office to be in the field, he said.

"That made Ms. Adams angry," the defense lawyer said. "She harbored a real dislike for Mr. Hoffman."

Adams resented Hoffman, he said. She believed she was entitled to be acting chief probation officer, not Hoffman, he said.

"She simply didn't like Mr. Hoffman," Bongiorni said.

Bongiorni told jurors to bring their "old-fashioned common sense" when determining the outcome of the case.

In a separate case, retired deputy probation commissioner Burke, 72, who worked in probation for 37 years, on Monday pleaded innocent in U.S. District Court in Boston during his arraignment on a superseding indictment charging him multiple counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit bribery and bribery.

Prosecutors alleged that Burke, former probation commissioner John J. O'Brien and former second deputy probation commissioner Elizabeth V. Tavares operated a rigged hiring system at probation that resulted in the hiring of candidates for probation jobs that were not the most qualified but had political connections to mostly state legislators. Tavares and O'Brien had pleaded innocent to the superseding indictment during their arraignments on April 30 in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Burke's lawyer, John A. Amabile of Brockton, said on Monday that Burke, is "totally innocent" and that he and his client will vigorously fight the charges.

"My client didn't get anything out of this," Amabile said. "My client received no financial benefit whatsoever."

"He's accused of bribing someone and he got nothing in return," Amabile said. "That doesn't sound like bribery to me."

Amabile also said that Hoffman was qualified when he was hired to be a probation officer.

The superseding indictment, issued last month, added bribery charges to prior, year-old conspiracy and mail fraud charges against Burke, O'Brien and Tavares.

According to the indictment, Burke, O'Brien and Tavares corruptly gave jobs and salaries to people sponsored by state legislators in order to influence legislators who were in a position to "affect" the defendants with legislation, budget authorizations and in other ways. No state legislators have been charged in the case.

The indictment said that Burke, O'Brien and Tavares conspired to curry favor with legislators by instituting a rigged hiring system that catered to requests of legislators. Burke, O'Brien and Tavares conspired to increase the budget of probation, maintain their positions, aggrandize power and tighten their control at probation, the indictment said.

News that Bank of America and MBIA, a bond-insurance company, had reached a settlement over a long-running dispute propelled both companies' stocks up.

By MATTHEW CRAFT
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK — Bank of America led a rally in big-bank stocks in mostly quiet trading on Monday. Stock indexes ended little changed following a record-setting run last week.

News that Bank of America and MBIA, a bond-insurance company, had reached a settlement over a long-running dispute propelled both companies' stocks up. BofA will pay $1.7 billion to MBIA and extend the troubled company a credit line.

MBIA soared 45 percent, or $4.46, to $14.29. Bank of America gained 5 percent, or 64 cents, to $12.88, making it the leading company in the Dow Jones industrial average.

The Dow slipped 5.07 points to close at 14,968.89. The Standard & Poor's 500 index crept up 3.08 points to 1,617.50, a gain of 0.2 percent.

Six of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose, with financial companies in the lead.

No major economic reports came out Monday, but a handful of companies reported their quarterly results. Tyson Foods, the nation's largest meat-processing company, fell 3 percent, the biggest drop in the Standard & Poor's 500 index, after saying its net income sank as costs for chicken feed rose. Tyson's stock lost 83 cents to $24.10.

Companies have reported solid quarterly profits so far this earnings season. Seven of every 10 big companies in the S&P 500 have beat the earnings estimates of financial analysts, according to S&P Capital IQ. But revenue has looked weak: six of 10 have missed revenue forecasts.

"Yet again, corporations continue to do more with less," said Dan Veru, the chief investment officer of Palisade Capital Management.

Veru said the trend is likely to lead to more mergers in the coming months, as cash-rich companies look for ways to raise their revenue. A wave of mergers could shift the stock market's rally into a higher gear, he said.

The stock market cleared new milestones Friday after the government reported that employers added more workers to their payrolls in recent months. The unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent, the lowest level in four years.

That news sent the Dow through the 15,000 mark for the first time, while the S&P 500 closed above 1,600, another first.

In Monday trading, the Nasdaq composite rose 14.34 points to 3,392.97, an increase of 0.4 percent. The price of crude oil edged up 55 cents to $96.16 and gold rose $3.80 to $1,468.10 an ounce.

In the market for U.S. government bonds, the yield on the 10-year note inched up to 1.76 percent from 1.74 percent late Friday.

Berkshire Hathaway rose 1.3 percent, or $1.36, to $110. Warren Buffett's company turned in earnings late Friday that trumped analysts' estimates for both profit and revenue. Berkshire reported strong gains from its insurance units, Geico and General Reinsurance, its BNSF Railway company and other investments.

In a round of television interviews on Monday, Buffett said that the stock market still appears reasonably priced even though major indexes are at all-time highs. By contrast, bonds are "a terrible investment right now," he said. Buffett explained that with interest rates at historic lows, a buyer of long-term bonds is bound to take a loss when rates eventually rise.

Among other stocks in the news:

— Sysco dropped 1 percent, or 33 cents, to $34.33, after the food distributor posted net income and revenue that fell short of analysts' estimates. Sysco's CEO said the company's sales were held back by bad weather that made people less willing to spend on meals away from home. Sysco's

— Monster Beverage sank 2 percent after San Francisco's city attorney sued the company for allegedly marketing its caffeinated drinks to children. Last week, Monster Beverage filed a suit against the same city attorney over demands that the energy drink maker reduce the caffeine in its drinks and change its marketing practices. Monster lost $1.26 to $56.18.

Those who received physical injuries and suffered the amputation of a limb will be the next highest priority for funds followed by those who were physically injured and hospitalized overnight.

BOSTON — The families of those who lost loved ones and individuals who suffered double amputations or permanent brain damage in the Boston Marathon bombing would receive the highest payments from a fund created to help people injured in the twin blasts, according to a draft proposal of payouts from the One Fund Boston, which has already taken in more than $28 million in donations.

The fund administrator, Kenneth Feinberg, unveiled the draft proposal at a public meeting Monday at the Boston Public Library, across the street from the bombing site.

Those who received physical injuries and suffered the amputation of a limb will be the next highest priority for funds followed by those who were physically injured and hospitalized overnight.

Three people were killed and more than 260 injured in the April 15 bombing.

Feinberg conceded that the fund, despite its size, will be inadequate to the task of caring for those injured and the families of the dead.

"I've learned over the years ... (that) money is a pretty poor substitute for what you are going through," Feinberg told the 100 or so victims and family members who gathered for the hearing. "If you had a billion dollars you could not have enough money to deal with all of the problems that ought to be addressed by these attacks."

Feinberg said he deliberately did not include specific dollars amounts that would be awarded from the fund in part because there isn't a secure tally yet of the injuries and in part because the fund could still grow. He said the fund has $11 million in cash now and has a total of $28 million when pledged money is added in.

He said the families of the three killed in the bombing and of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier who was shot to death by the alleged bombers as they attempted to flee are obviously entitled to compensation as are those who had limbs amputated or who suffered other serious physical injuries. He said there may be as many as 15 to 20 victims who suffered single or double amputations.

Although he did not propose specific dollar amounts for compensation, Feinberg said the families of those killed or those who had limbs amputated could end up receiving as much as $1 million or more from the fund.

"After that you begin to wonder if there is enough money to go beyond that," he said.

Feinberg said compensation for those who were injured but not hospitalized, or those who suffered mental trauma is still an open question, as is compensation for business owners who had to shut their doors for days during the investigation.

Feinberg said he was struck by the generosity of those who pledged money to the fund, noting similar funds for the victims of the shootings at Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., were far less.

During the meeting, family members of victims presented sometimes excruciating dilemmas, including one woman who said her daughter lost one leg and doctors were working to save her second leg. She asked whether she should file for compensation as a single or double amputee. Feinberg said she should include a doctor's note with her claim.

Liz Norden, whose two adult sons each lost a leg in the bombing, attended the hearing. One of her sons in still hospitalized and the other is in rehab.

"I really am just focusing on the care of my sons," she said after the meeting. "This is new to me. I don't know what questions I'm supposed to be asking or not asking."

James Costello, whose 30-year-old son received burns along the right side of his body from the blast and is currently in rehab, said he was satisfied with what he heard.

"I thought that he left things open. He said what he had to say. I thought it was fair," Costello said of Feinberg. "I think overall he covered it. I don't think there was much left to, in my mind, to question."

Feinberg said it's sometimes unclear who is eligible to receive money. He said in some cases, divisions in a family can make it difficult.

"In cases where there are conflicting claims, we may just take the money and put it the probate court and go fight it out there," he said. "We're not going to settle those disputes and they come up all the time."

He said his goal is to get the money to victims as quickly as possible. He said he's set a May 15 deadline to get final claim forms into the hands all those who are eligible, who will then have one month to file. Those claims will need to include records from hospitals showing how long an individual was hospitalized and that the injuries were related to the bombing, he said.

Feinberg said that after June 15, when all claims are submitted, he and his team will work out who gets how much from the fund over the following ten days. He said during that time he'll meet with any victim who wants to talk to him.

He said he hopes to send out the checks by July 1.

He said there will be an independent audit of the fund after the payments are made.

Feinberg said no final decision has been made on whether there should be "means testing" with poorer victims receiving more than wealthier victims or victims whose injuries were covered by insurance. He said victims won't waive their rights to file lawsuits by accepting payments from the fund.

He also said no one will likely be compensated for 100 percent of their medical bills.

"There's not enough money," he said.

Three women who went missing about a decade ago, when they were in their teens or early 20s, were found alive Monday in a residential area just south of downtown, and a man was arrested.

In this Friday, March 3, 2004 file photos shows Felix DeJesus, holding a banner showing his daughter's photograph, standing by a memorial in his living room in Cleveland. Cleveland police say two women who went missing as teenagers about a decade ago have been found alive in a residential area about two miles south of downtown. Cheering crowds gathered Monday night on the street near the home where police say Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight were found earlier in the day. 

By JOHN COYNE and THOMAS J. SHEERAN

CLEVELAND — Three women who went missing about a decade ago, when they were in their teens or early 20s, were found alive Monday in a residential area just south of downtown, and a man was arrested.

Cheering crowds gathered Monday night on the street near the home where police said Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight were found earlier in the day.

Police didn't immediately provide any details of how the women were found but said they appeared to be in good health and had been taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Berry disappeared at age 16 on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. DeJesus went missing at age 14 on her way home from school about a year later. They were found just a few miles from where they had gone missing.

Police said Knight was 20 when she went missing around 2000.

Police said a 52-year-old man was arrested. There was no immediate word on charges.

Loved ones said they hadn't given up hope of seeing the women again. Among them was Kayla Rogers, a childhood friend of DeJesus.

"I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever," Rogers told The Plain Dealer newspaper. "This is amazing. This is a celebration. I'm so happy. I just want to see her walk out of those doors so I can hug her."

Berry's cousin Tasheena Mitchell told the newspaper she couldn't wait to have Berry in her arms.

"I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her and I probably won't let her go," she said.

Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, who had been hospitalized for months with pancreatitis and other ailments, died in March 2006. She had spent the previous three years looking for her daughter, whose disappearance took a toll as her health steadily deteriorated, family and friends said.

Mayor Frank Jackson expressed gratitude that the three women were found alive.

"We have many unanswered questions regarding this case, and the investigation will be ongoing," he said in a statement.

In January, a prison inmate was sentenced to 4 1/2 years after admitting he provided a false burial tip in the disappearance of Berry, who had last been seen the day before her 17th birthday. A judge in Cleveland sentenced Robert Wolford on his guilty plea to obstruction of justice, making a false report and making a false alarm.

Last summer, Wolford tipped authorities to look for Berry's remains in a Cleveland lot. He was taken to the location, which was dug up with backhoes.

Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers did not find her body during a search of the men's house.

One of the men was transferred to the Cuyahoga County Jail on unrelated charges, while the other was allowed to go free, police said.

In September 2006, police acting on a tip tore up the concrete floor of the garage and used a cadaver dog to search unsuccessfully for DeJesus' body. Investigators confiscated 19 pieces of evidence during their search but declined to comment on the significance of the items then.

No Amber Alert was issued the day DeJesus failed to return home from school in April 2004 because no one witnessed her abduction. The lack of an Amber Alert angered her father, Felix DeJesus, who said in 2006 he believed the public will listen even if the alerts become routine.

"The Amber Alert should work for any missing child," Felix DeJesus said then. "It doesn't have to be an abduction. Whether it's an abduction or a runaway, a child needs to be found. We need to change this law."

Cleveland police said then that the alerts must be reserved for cases in which danger is imminent and the public can be of help in locating the suspect and child.

Associated Press writer Kantele Franko in Columbus contributed to this report.

Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast.

Gary Hevel, a research collaborator with the Dept. of Entomology at the National Museum of Natural History, holds up a preserved cicadas, a brood of which are expected to emerge this spring in the Washington area, at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum Support Center in Camp Springs, Md. 

By SETH BORENSTEIN

WASHINGTON — Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast. The insects will arrive in such numbers that people from North Carolina to Connecticut will be outnumbered roughly 600-to-1. Maybe more.

Scientists even have a horror-movie name for the infestation: Brood II. But as ominous as that sounds, the insects are harmless. They won't hurt you or other animals. At worst, they might damage a few saplings or young shrubs. Mostly they will blanket certain pockets of the region, though lots of people won't ever see them.

"It's not like these hordes of cicadas suck blood or zombify people," says May Berenbaum, a University of Illinois entomologist.

They're looking for just one thing: sex. And they've been waiting quite a long time.

Since 1996, this group of 1-inch bugs, in wingless nymph form, has been a few feet underground, sucking on tree roots and biding their time. They will emerge only when the ground temperature reaches precisely 64 degrees. After a few weeks up in the trees, they will die and their offspring will go underground, not to return until 2030.

"It's just an amazing accomplishment," Berenbaum says. "How can anyone not be impressed?"

And they will make a big racket, too. The noise all the male cicadas make when they sing for sex can drown out your own thoughts, and maybe even rival a rock concert. In 2004, Gene Kritsky, an entomologist at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, measured cicadas at 94 decibels, saying it was so loud "you don't hear planes flying overhead."

There are ordinary cicadas that come out every year around the world, but these are different. They're called magicicadas — as in magic — and are red-eyed. And these magicicadas are seen only in the eastern half of the United States, nowhere else in the world.

There are 15 U.S. broods that emerge every 13 or 17 years, so that nearly every year, some place is overrun. Last year it was a small area, mostly around the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. Next year, two places get hit: Iowa into Illinois and Missouri; and Louisiana and Mississippi. And it's possible to live in these locations and actually never see them.

This year's invasion, Brood II, is one of the bigger ones. Several experts say that they really don't have a handle on how many cicadas are lurking underground but that 30 billion seems like a good estimate. At the Smithsonian Institution, researcher Gary Hevel thinks it may be more like 1 trillion.

Even if it's merely 30 billion, if they were lined up head to tail, they'd reach the moon and back.

"There will be some places where it's wall-to-wall cicadas," says University of Maryland entomologist Mike Raupp.

Strength in numbers is the key to cicada survival: There are so many of them that the birds can't possibly eat them all, and those that are left over are free to multiply, Raupp says.

But why only every 13 or 17 years? Some scientists think they come out in these odd cycles so that predators can't match the timing and be waiting for them in huge numbers. Another theory is that the unusual cycles ensure that different broods don't compete with each other much.

And there's the mystery of just how these bugs know it's been 17 years and time to come out, not 15 or 16 years.

"These guys have evolved several mathematically clever tricks," Raupp says. "These guys are geniuses with little tiny brains."

Past cicada invasions have seen as many as 1.5 million bugs per acre. Of course, most places along the East Coast won't be so swamped, and some places, especially in cities, may see zero, says Chris Simon of the University of Connecticut. For example, Staten Island gets this brood of cicadas, but the rest of New York City and Long Island don't, she says. The cicadas also live beneath the metro areas of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington.

Scientists and ordinary people with a bug fetish travel to see them. Thomas Jefferson once wrote about an invasion of this very brood at Monticello, his home in Virginia.

While they stay underground, the bugs aren't asleep. As some of the world's longest-lived insects, they go through different growth stages and molt four times before ever getting to the surface. They feed on a tree fluid called xylem. Then they go aboveground, where they molt, leaving behind a crusty brown shell, and grow a half-inch bigger.

The timing of when they first come out depends purely on ground temperature. That means early May for southern areas and late May or even June for northern areas.

The males come out first — think of it as getting to the singles bar early, Raupp says. They come out first as nymphs, which are essentially wingless and silent juveniles, climb on to tree branches and molt one last time, becoming adult winged cicadas. They perch on tree branches and sing, individually or in a chorus. Then when a female comes close, the males change their song, they do a dance and mate, he explained.

The males keep mating ("That's what puts the 'cad' in 'cicada,'" Raupp jokes) and eventually the female lays 600 or so eggs on the tip of a branch. The offspring then dive-bomb out of the trees, bounce off the ground and eventually burrow into the earth, he says.

"It's a treacherous, precarious life," Raupp says. "But somehow they make it work."

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

 

HOLYOKE -- Parents armed with petitions and anger Monday persuaded the School Committee to reconsider an April 22 vote that would have established a new kindergarten center from three existing ones.

Mildred Lefebvre, who has three children at Kelly School, said parents submitted a petition with about 200 signatures opposing the kindergarten plan.

Parents said they objected to being excluded from the kindergarten decision and to losing kindergartens at three neighborhood schools.

"I feel like we're always told at the last minute and we don't have a say-so," said Esmeralda Mendez-Romero, who has a 10-year-old daughter at Kelly School.

The School Committee's 6-3 vote to reconsider the kindergarten plan leaves questions about how numerous school buildings will be used with budgets and other planning under way to prepare for the 2013-2014 school year.

The back-tracking also means the city has yet to comply with a state order to close the Center for Excellence (CFE) alternative school, which operates at the former Lawrence School at Cabot and Maple streets.

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.

Mayor Alex B. Morse said reconsidering the kindergarten vote with parents in the room and a petition calling for such a decision is the easy, but not the right, decision.

"We make decisions. They're not always popular. But we have to make decisions," said Morse, who is chairman of the School Committee.

The plan that had upset parents would have moved kindergartens from Morgan, Kelly and Peck schools to a new Kindergarten Center at Lawrence School in September. That plan was the idea of Sergio Paez, who will take over as superintendent July 1.

The CFE’s 130 or so students, many of whom have severe behavioral issues, and its 30 staffers and related programs would have moved to E.N. White School, Kelly, Peck and the two high schools.

Supporters said the plan would have succeeded in two ways. It would have abided by the state order to disperse the CFE students. And it would have established a kindergarten center that would have allowed a focus on helping youngsters from the three schools where third-grade reading proficiency consistently is among the lowest in the city, they said.

Voting to reconsider the kindergarten center vote were members Margaret M. Boulais, Howard B. Greaney Jr., Joshua A. Garcia, Dennis Birks, Cesar Lopez and William R. Collamore.

Voting against the reconsideration were Vice Chairman Devin M. Sheehan, Michael J. Moriarty and Morse.

A special meeting probably will be scheduled next week to discuss the kindergarten and CFE issues, Sheehan said.

"Let the state come after us and let the chips fall where they may," Greaney said.

"It's not a small thing to defy the state and do what you want," Moriarty said.

Members disagreed about whether the committee still had time for a thorough, public airing of the options for kindergarten and CFE students. The budget for the next fiscal year must be prepared and decisions must be made about which programs will be in which buildings for the 2013-2014 school year, they said.

"There is still room for discussion," Birks said.

"The time is not there," Sheehan said.

One local animal lover says she would feel better if legislation were called an animal welfare ordinance rather than an animal control ordinance.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Local animal lovers stepped forward during Monday’s Town Council meeting to make comments and offer to work with the council’s ordinance committee formulating an animal control ordinance for the city.

About a half dozen spoke during the public hearing portion of Monday’s meeting to gather input on what residents would like to see in regulations.

The council recently scrapped a proposed animal control ordinance sent to it earlier this year by Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger. The proposal became controversial after it came to light that it contained a section requiring cats be leashed. Neffinger later issued a press release stating that he doe not favor making that a requirement, but had left it in the proposal so officials could get an idea of what other communities have enacted.

Debra L. LaBruzzo, coordinator for the Homeless Cat Project in Springfield, said animal lovers would like to see an ordinance that is “fair” to cats. She said her organization traps more homeless cats in West Springfield than in Springfield, Chicopee and Holyoke combined.

James R. Sullivan of 26 Rochelle St. suggested that when dogs are a licensed the city might want to check if their owners have home owner property insurance to cover anything involving dogs.

Laurie A. F. Bobskill of 135 Van Horn St. said she would feel better about an ordinance if it were called an animal welfare ordinance rather than an animal control ordinance.

Both Bobskill and LaBruzzo asked if they would work with the council’s committee in crafting an ordinance.

Eileen H. Stopa of 54 Colony Road asked that apartment and condominium dwellers be allowed to have the same number of pets as people living in single-family homes, something that was not the case under the mayor’s proposal.

“Condominiums are larger than single-family houses today,” Stopa said. “There are a lot of good people taking good care of their animals.”

Lucy Lukiwsky of Garden Street said the city’s recent hiring of an animal control officer is a big improvement in the situation.

The council continued the public hearing on animal control to its July 15 meeting at the suggestion of Town Council President Kathleen A. Bourque, who said that will allow councilors time to work on the proposed fiscal 2014 budget.

Officials stressed that actually selling Town Hall is purely hypothetical at this point.

Jeffrey LaBrecque, chairman of South Hadley Community and Economic Development CommissionJim Russell 

SOUTH HADLEY – Although any concrete plans are in the future, unlocking economic potential in South Hadley Falls by selling one of the areas prime properties, the Town Hall, to a private developer for housing or business development, could happen some day, officials said during last week’s Community and Economic Development Commission meeting.

But they stressed that actually selling Town Hall is purely hypothetical at this point.

Commissioner Wayne Cordes supports looking at fresh ideas to spur development including the sale of the municipal building.

Town Administrator Michael Sullivan, who attended the meeting said local prosperity would increase with“more wallets in downtown” and said it is important the town have adequate housing stock for potential new arrivals.

In his many years in public life, Sullivan said he has observed that when a community invests in itself, other government agencies tend to follow suit. Then private investment follows, he said.

Discussion also centered on why only one company responded to the town’s request for proposals involving hiring a consultant.

The consultant would be responsible for writing draft legislation for a proposal to allow the town to create an economic development corporation.

Sullivan and Town Planner Richard Harris said they would try to find out why other firms did not respond.

The Community and Economic Development Commission with the selectboard’s approval had wanted to use a $20,000 grant to hire a consultant.

During the meeting Sullivan recommended the panel also review whether using the money to create a redevelopment authority instead might be a better idea.

He also said that his office would play a lead role attracting new investment and business to the town.

The City Council president used a seldom used procedural rule to temporarily block any debate on the casino agreement pending a requesting financial analysis.

SPRINGFIELD – City Council President James J. Ferrera III invoked a procedural rule Monday night, to temporarily block any council debate or vote on a proposed agreement with MGM Resorts International to build a casino in Springfield.

Ferrera invoked the Rule 20 of council rules, that served to end the debate before it started. He invoked the seldom-used rule just at the council was set to discuss a proposed “host community agreement” between the city and MGM, regarding the company’s proposal to build an estimated $800 million casino in the South End of Springfield.

Ferrera said he is a supporter of a casino in Springfield, but does not want the council rushed into acting on the formal agreement with MGM.

“I don’t know what the big rush is,” Ferrera said.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno approved the host community agreement last week after many weeks of negotiations, and it now needs approval from the City Council, Springfield voters, and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

The state Gaming Commission plans to award one casino license in Western Massachusetts, with casinos also proposed in Palmer and West Springfield.

Ferrera’s invocation of Rule 20 drew immediate criticism from other councilors.

Councilor Michael E. Fenton began circulating a petition being signed by other councilors to call for special meeting on Friday to begin discussing the city-MGM agreement on that date.

Councilor Timothy Rooke said later that the effort was successful, and a meeting is set for 7 p.m. Friday.

Under Rule 20, the city comptroller must make a report in writing to the council regarding a cost analysis and opinion of the matter before the council acts.

“Once Rule 20 is invoked debate is ended,” the rule states. “No explanation is necessary to invoke Rule 20.”

Councilor Kenneth E. Shea tried challenging the Rule 20 invocation, saying it was inappropriate given that the casino project is not a “cost” for the city, but revenue that will be received by the city.

Councilor Bud Williams, who as vice-president took over the gavel in Ferrera’s place when Ferrera invoked Rule 20, said that Shea’s arguments were out of order because debate was not permitted under the rule.

Ferrera, in a prepared statement handed to reporters, said that time is needed to review the extensive agreement with MGM, and he has some questions about information within the document.

He said that within a week, “we will publicly and officially ask all the necessary questions.”

Sarno is seeking a vote by mid-May from the council, so that a citywide referendum vote can be held on July 16, with a require notice of 60 days provided. Sarno chose MGM over a competing company, Penn National Gaming, proposing a casino in the north end of the downtown district.

Ferrera said he and some others have questions.

“We are concerned about issues like: the actual property taxes MGM will pay, why this document includes 1,200 less parking spaces than MGM originally proposed, why the city included a 121 A tax break to MGM in the agreement and most importantly to me; why does this agreement not include a specific commitment to the $852 (million) total project amount publicly promised by MGM?” Ferrera said.

The following is the text of Ferrera's statement:

James Ferrera's Statement

Morse defeated former Mayor Elaine Pluta in 2011 in his first bid for elected office.

HOLYOKE — Mayor Alex B. Morse announced his re-election campaign Tuesday by touting accomplishments and saying he will stay committed to improving public safety, education and economic development.

"With all of your help, we've been able to make an unprecedented amount of progress in the city of Holyoke," Morse told a gathering at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, 500 Easthampton Road.

"My message is we have a lot to be proud of in the last year and a half, but there's still a lot more work to do," said the first-term mayor.

Morse defeated former mayor Elaine A. Pluta in 2011 in his first bid for elected office at the age of 22, six months after graduating from Brown University.

Morse said he has worked with Police Chief James M. Neiswanger to increase community policing. The city was homicide-free in 2012, and so far this year, for the first time in at least 25 years, he said.

A lot of work remains to improve the high school graduation rate, reading and other academic scores, he said, but expectations are high with the recent hiring of Sergio Paez, a Worcester public schools administrator, to take over as superintendent in July.

Economic development steps have included approval of an urban renewal plan for four inner-city neighborhoods, pending constructions of a $2 million passenger train platform and a skateboard park and approval of a plan to convert the former Holyoke Catholic High School into 55 apartments, he said.

In November, Morse enraged supporters by saying he had reversed course and would accept proposals for a casino gambling resort here. He changed back to anti-casino three weeks later, and the flip-flop could be a factor in whether voters give Morse a second term.

Not everyone will agree with all his decisions, he said, nor would he expect that.

"But I want you to know I wake up every morning thinking about what I can do for the city of Holyoke," he said.

Seeking to unseat Morse are newcomer Jim Santiago, who has worked in real estate and image processing and is a U.S. Air Force veteran, former mayor Daniel J. Szostkiewicz and Daniel C Boyle, who writes for the Holyoke Sun and was co-owner of the former Diamond Fiber Products Co., in Palmer.

The top two vote-getters in a preliminary election Sept. 17 will compete on Election Day Nov. 5.

Domino's top security officer, George Ralph, said franchise owners are not required to report assaults on drivers to Domino's corporate headquarters, and company officials have never conducted a broader study into violence against their own drivers or in the pizza industry.

Updates story posted Tuesday at 2:13 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD — They found Corey M. Lind’s Domino’s jacket in a field, next to a stone wall stained with blood.

Four days after the 20-year-old disappeared during a pizza delivery in 2007, investigators searching a hillside in Monson looked over the wall and discovered Lind’s body on the other side.

“He (Lind) was lying on his back, by a tree,” Springfield police Detective Eugene Dean testified Tuesday in Superior Court in a lawsuit filed by Lind’s parents against Domino’s, seeking $15 million in damages for their son’s death.

Dean recounted the last hours of Lind’s life while describing the investigation into his disappearance late on Dec. 8, 2007, and the eventual confession of Alex Morales, of Springfield, to stabbing Lind to death.

Morales, who was convicted of first degree murder in 2009, had lured Lind to a fake address near his girlfriend’s house on Truman Circle to steal his car.

Under questioning from plaintiff’s lawyer Kevin D. Withers, Dean said Morales was angry because his girlfriend was having an affair, and needed a car to go back home to Massasoit Street in the North End.

After forcing Lind into the trunk, Morales drove first to East Longmeadow, then back to Springfield before finally taking Route 20 to Monson, Dean testified.

Initially, Morales planned to release Lind in a secluded area, but changed his mind as they walked across a field near Brimfield State Forest, Dean said.

After forcing Lind to kneel down in front of the wall and remove his glasses and Domino’s jacket, Morales slashed his wrists and throat, then continued stabbing as Lind staggered over the wall, according to Dean.

When Lind collapsed, Morales slit his throat and left him to die, the detective said.

“He (Morales) said (Lind) was a big guy; it would take him a long time to bleed out,” Dean said.

Lind’s parents, Michael A. Lind and Lisa A. Bishop, were sitting in the first row during the testimony Tuesday.

In their lawsuit, they accuse the Michigan-based pizza chain of failing to adopt adequate safety measures to protect delivery drivers.

Earlier Tuesday, two lawyers representing Lind’s family took turns reading from a deposition taken from Domino’s top security officer, George Ralph, in 2011.

In the deposition, Ralph said that Domino’s often learned of attacks on drivers working for independent Domino’s franchises, including the Boston Road store that employed Lind.

But Ralph said franchise owners are not required to report assaults on drivers to Domino’s corporate headquarters, and company officials have never conducted a broader study into violence against their own drivers or in the pizza industry.

Testimony will resume Wednesday in Hampden Superior Court.

A lawyer for state Rep. Thomas Petrolati said it was pretty shameful of prosecutors to associate the state legislator with a pay to play scheme when there is no evidence to support it.

WORCESTER — A former and current FBI agent on Tuesday each testified that state Rep. Thomas M. Petrolati of Ludlow was a target of their investigation into rigged hiring in the state probation department.

The testimony by the two FBI special agents, which later came under fire from Petrolati's lawyer, came during the second day of the trial of Christopher J. Hoffman of Hatfield, the acting chief probation officer in Hampshire Superior Court. Hoffman is charged with intimidating and harassing a witness in the federal investigation into the probation department in 2011. Hoffman, who is on administrative leave without pay, is on trial in U.S. District Court in Worcester.

Kevin Constantine, special agent for the FBI, testified that Hoffman and William H. Burke III of Hatfield, a retired state deputy probation commissioner, would sell tickets for $100 a piece to Petrolati's annual fundraiser in Ludlow and that Petrolati, a Ludlow Democrat, was among several state legislators who recommended people for jobs at probation.

Constantine and Dominic Barbara, a former FBI special agent, testified that Petrolati was a target of the federal investigation. No state legislators have been charged in the statewide probation scandal.

"Our theory ... is the system was rigged and it was pay to play," said Barbara.

In an interview after the FBI testimony on Tuesday, John P. Pucci of Springfield, lawyer for Petrolati, criticized the long-running investigation into probation by the office U.S, Attorney Carmen Ortiz.

Pucci said "no" when asked if Petrolati will be charged in the case. Pucci said the federal government spent millions and millions of dollars investigating Petrolati and others and have little to show for it.

Pucci said it was "pretty shameful" to associate Petrolati with a so-called pay to play scheme when there is no evidence to support it.

"Carmen Ortiz's office continues to play this song," Pucci said. "It's an abuse of that office."

Pucci cited statistics that Petrolati recommended 19 people for jobs in probation over 20 years and that only seven obtained the jobs.

Petrolati has long been reported to be a focus of investigators, but Tuesday's testimony was the first time that the FBI confirmed it and discussed it in open court.

Constantine said that the FBI was targeting Petrolati when an investigator arranged an interview with Maureen Adams, a probation officer under the supervision of Hoffman. Hoffman is charged with harassing and intimidating Adams before she met with the FBI.

Hoffman's lawyer, Vincent A. Bongiorni of Springfield, scored points when he asked Constantine about the message on a text from Adams to another probation officer in Northampton District Court. Adams had texted Laurie Clark about the threats allegedly made by Hoffman, saying the acting chief was "joking, but serious" when he said people would call her "a rat" after she met with investigators.

"That's correct," Constantine said. "Joking, but serious."

The testimony by the FBI agents portrayed Hoffman as rising through the ranks of probation with the help of his friend, Burke, the retired state deputy probation commissioner.

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karin M. Bell, Constantine said Hoffman was a part-time bartender at Joe's Cafe in Northampton when he met Burke.

In a separate indictment of Burke, who is charged with being part of a fraudulent hiring system in probation, prosecutors allege that Burke sponsored Hoffman to be hired as a probation officer and he was hired even though he was not the most qualified candidate.