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Easthampton, owners of Pleasant Street mills need to sign agreement so infrastructure work can begin

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Easthampton and the mill owners need to sign the easement agreement so the project can go out to bid.

MICH.JPGThis is an artist rendering of the what the Pleasant Street mill project will look like with the entrances in the back and site work completed. Easthampton and mill owners have to sign an easement agreement so the project can go out to bid.  

EASTHAMPTON – The City Council this week will get a look at a draft easement agreement between the city and Pleasant Street mill owners, an agreement that needs to be inked so the public-private project can go out to bid.

The MassWorks Infrastructure Program last fall awarded $2.75 million to help Michael Michon, owner of Mill 180 on Pleasant St., Will Bundy, owner of Eastworks Mill, and James Witmer, owner of the Brickyard, with their proposal to connect their buildings and flip the buildings' entrances to open on the back, facing the Manhan Rail Trail instead of Pleasant Street.

The money will be used 
for needed infrastructure improvements, which require the signed agreement.

City Planner Jessica Allan in her memo to the City Council said the mill owners’ attorney has drafted the agreement that is now being reviewed by City Attorney John H. Fitz-Gibbon.

According to the agreement, the city would receive an easement from the Manhan Rail Trail to the building lines for the improvements, and the mill owners will provide maintenance to all above-ground improvements. Also included are separate agreements and plans for the five buildings affected by the project.

Mayor Michael A. Tautznik said the agreement is intended to cover all aspects of the project now instead of having to draft separate agreements over time. He also said the agreement needs a little tweaking.

But the signing is the necessary step so the mill owners can put the design out to bid soon, he said.

In her memo, Allan said the first phase of the project will address the major safety concerns by upgrading water lines and burying electric lines. She said the city is planning to apply for additional MassWorks money to pay for the remaining work of the project.

Mill owners will redevelop the 132,000 square feet of mill space for restaurant and commercial use, and will create 54 new units of rental housing. The new entrances will also feature more parking, landscaping and lighting.


Obituaries today: Meridith Grammaticas was nurse; worked at Hampden County Sheriff's Office

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Obituaries from The Republican.

 
070613-meridith-grammaticas.jpgMeridith Grammaticas 

Meridith "Toots" (Passa) Grammaticas, passed away on Tuesday. She was born in Northampton and grew up in Hatfield, graduating from Smith Academy. She was a graduate of UMass Amherst and Holyoke Community College, and attained a nursing degree. She worked at the Hampden County Sheriff's Office. She was an avid skater and kayaker, and enjoyed fishing and spending time on the Cape Cod National Seashore at Race Point in Provincetown.

Obituaries from The Republican:


Massachusetts Republicans regroup after defeat in U.S. Senate special election

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There has been only a single Republican U.S. senator from the Bay State since 1979, and a Republican has not represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House since 1997.

By SHIRA SCHOENBERG and DAN RING

BOSTON - When Democrat Edward Markey defeated Republican Gabriel Gomez in the June 25 special election for U.S. Senate, it was only the latest loss for the Massachusetts GOP, and the string of defeats is leading some Republicans to rethink the party’s strategy.

“A lot of the folks being defensive right now, saying we have to keep doing things the way we’ve done things, are obviously mistaken,” said Paul Moore, a long-time Republican political strategist, pointing out that Republicans have only won one statewide election since 2002.

In past years, Republicans have had some success winning the governor’s seat. There have been three Republican governors elected since the 1990s – William F. Weld, A. Paul Cellucci and Mitt Romney. But, there has been only a single Republican U.S. senator from the Bay State since 1979: Scott Brown, who won a 2010 special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy but then lost last year to Democrat Elizabeth Warren in a race to hold onto the post.

A Republican has not represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House since 1997.

Several viable Republican candidates have lost in recent election cycles – Gomez, Brown and congressional candidate Richard Tisei in 2012, and gubernatorial nominee Charles Baker in 2010.

There are just four Republicans in the 40-seat state Senate, and 30 Republicans in the 160-person state House. On Beacon Hill, Democrats hold all constitutional offices, and the entire eight-member Governor's Council.

Part of the dynamic is due to demographics – Democrats outnumber Republicans three-to-one in Massachusetts.

Other experts say, however, problems with organization and its message are at the core of the GOP’s difficulties.

Thomas Whalen, a political historian and associate professor of social science at Boston University, views part of the problem as structural, saying the GOP in Massachusetts has never figured out how to organize at a grassroots level.

“The leadership at the top more or less look out for themselves, but don’t look strategically at the long term for the party and the state,” Whalen said. “The old cliché is Massachusetts Republicans always want senator or Congress but never local water commissioner or dog catcher.”

The losses at the top, Whalen said, then contribute to other candidates’ hesitancy to run. “Because of the recent losses, there might be Republicans who promised they’d sit it out or give it up entirely,” Whalen said. “There’s a loser mentality that might prevent talented people from jumping into the fray.”

Others point to problems with messaging.

Moore said Republicans should learn from the Gomez campaign that it takes more than a candidate with a “nice biography” to win an election. That must be combined, he said, with a strong, topical message – which Gomez’s campaign did not have. “With so many huge, critical issues facing the country, the idea that most of the campaign seemed devoid of a discussion of these things, voters have to scratch their heads and say what planet are you living on?” Moore said.

Moore said the Republican Party needs to back off from talking about social issues like gay marriage and focus instead on areas like the economy.

“If political candidates spent time around strangers’ kitchen tables to listen instead of talking, most people don’t give a rat’s behind about what other people are doing in their bedrooms,” Moore said. “They’re concerned about jobs, the economy, crime, are we going to get into more wars, what about the people still dying in Afghanistan.”

Janet Leombruno, a Republican state committeewoman from Framingham who was active in the Gomez campaign, said part of the challenge is that Republicans disagree on why Gomez lost.

“He lost because he was too liberal or he was too conservative. This is what you’re hearing,” Leombruno said.

Massachusetts Republicans need a better way of getting their message out, rather than letting themselves be defined by the national Republican Party or the Tea Party, Leombruno said. She points out that Brown lost among women after Democrats tied him to two Republican senators who made controversial comments about rape and abortion.

“It’s just frustrating,” Leombruno said. “I saw a lot of it in this race with Gabriel. They tried to define him as just another Republican.”

Leombruno said a candidate in Massachusetts must be moderate to appeal to independents and be successful. Leombruno believes Republicans must stop talking about abortion and gay marriage, and focus on pocketbook issues like college affordability and taxes.

“We have to agree to give up a little something,” she said. “It may not be our perfect candidate but there’s never any one perfect candidate out there.”

Not everyone agrees that moderation is key.

Paul Santaniello, a Republican political activist and Longmeadow selectman, said one problem the GOP faces is that candidates like Gomez act too much like Democrats, and have lost their own vision.

“You try to run in the middle of the street, you tend to get run over,” Santaniello said. “That’s what’s happening to Republican Party.”

Santaniello said he believes it is a mistake for Massachusetts Republicans to distance themselves from Tea Party activists. “Those are the same kind of folks who will stand out for you in the rain or a driving hail storm to hold your sign,” he said.

Despite the recent losses, some Bay State Republicans remain hopeful, looking toward 2014 when there will be races for governor and U.S. senator.

"Gabriel Gomez did extremely well in a lot of different pockets of the commonwealth,'' said state Rep. Todd Smola, R-Warren, and one of only four GOP legislators from Western Massachusetts. "There's a lot of red territory in the state of Massachusetts after that election."

Gomez, in his first statewide election, won large swaths of Bristol, Essex, Hampden, Worcester and Plymouth counties, though he lost key cities such as Brockton, Gloucester, Lowell and Quincy. In Middlesex County, home to almost 23 percent of the state's voters, Gomez won 21 of 54 communities, but was crushed in swing communities such as Lowell and Waltham, which Brown had won in 2010.

Smola said Gomez's victories in certain communities are a good sign for a Republican statewide candidate in 2014 such as Baker or Brown. "Next year will be a good chance for the Republican Party to make some gains," Smola said.

State Rep. George Peterson, R-Grafton, who serves as assistant minority leader in the state House, said the GOP should continue to emphasize the need for more balance on Beacon Hill.

Republicans can win, Peterson said, by emphasizing a need for lower taxes and more reforms in state government. Such a platform could appeal to independents, who might be eager for change next year, he said.

With state spending at record levels and the economy still sluggish, "That's going to be a huge argument for the Republican Party and a very good one for us," Peterson added.

Peterson is among those who expects Baker to be the frontrunner for the party's nominee for governor. He said 2014 could be like 1990 when Weld won the corner office; that year, the Democrat-controlled Legislature raised the income tax to 6.25 percent when the state's economy was in poor shape.

Now, Democrats on Beacon Hill are poised to raise the gas tax by 3 cents a gallon and impose the sales tax on computer design services.

"A lot of people are going to be pretty upset," Peterson said.


Westfield Boil Water Order lifted, according to town officials

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The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection lifted the Boil Water Order in Westfield at noon on Saturday.

WESTFIELD - A boil water order has been lifted after public safety officials found a fecal matter indicator too high on July 4.

Customers of the Westfield Water Resources Department, south of the Westfield River and west of Shepard Street, Smith Avenue, High Street and Southwick Road (Routes 10 and 202) to the Westfield/Southwick corporate boundary, were advised to sanitize water by boiling it for purposes of drinking, teeth-brushing, food preparation and washing dishes.

The warning was triggered by the detection of enterococci in a water sample collected from Well #5. A number of other wells were tested and cleared but the well in question was shut down on Thursday.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection lifted the Boil Water Order at noon, according to town officials.

Train carrying crude oil derails in Quebec; at least 1 dead in town close to Maine, Vermont border

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The explosions ignited a blaze that sent flames shooting into the sky, and billowing smoke could be seen from several miles (kilometers) away hours after the derailment.

Canada Oil Train Dera_Gene1.jpgSmoke rises from railway cars that were carrying crude oil after derailing in downtown Lac Megantic, Quebec, Canada, Saturday, July 6, 2013. The derailment sparked several explosions and forced the evacuation of up to 1,000 people.  

LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec -- A train carrying crude oil derailed Saturday in eastern Quebec, sparking several explosions and a blaze that destroyed the center of the town of Lac-Megantic and killed at least one person. An unspecified number of people were reported missing.

Witnesses said the eruptions sent local residents scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky.

Quebec provincial police Lt. Michel Brunet confirmed that one person had died. He refused to say how many others might be dead, but said authorities have been told "many" people have been reported missing.

Up to 1,000 people were forced from their homes in the middle of the night in the town, which is about 155 miles (250 kilometers) east of Montreal and about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of the Maine border.

The derailment caused several tanker rail cars to explode in the downtown core, a popular area known for its bars that is often bustling on summer weekend nights. Police said the first explosion tore through the town shortly after 1 a.m.

The fire spread to a number of homes in the lakeside town of 6,000 people, and witnesses said the flames shot up highter than the steeple on a nearby church.

Flames and billowing black smoke could be seen more than 12 hours after the derailment, which involved a 73-car train.

"When you see the center of your town almost destroyed, you'll understand that we're asking ourselves how we are going to get through this event," an emotional Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told a televised news briefing.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately known.

Dozens of residents gathered hours after the explosion at the edge of a wide security perimeter and many feared the worst. About a kilometer (0.6 miles) down the town's main street, flames danced around a railway tanker that sat at the edge of the road.

"On a beautiful evening like this with the bar, there were a lot of people there," said Bernard Demers, who owns a restaurant near the blast site. "It was a big explosion. It's a catastrophe. It's terrible for the population."

Demers, who fled his home, said the explosion was "like an atomic bomb. It was very hot. ... Everybody was afraid."

Charles Coue said he and his wife felt the heat as they sprinted from their home after an explosion went off a couple of hundred yards (meters) away.

"It went boom and it came like a fireball," he said.

Another resident Claude Bedard described the scene of the explosions as "dreadful."

"The Metro store, Dollarama, everything that was there is gone," he said.

Environment Quebec spokesman Christian Blanchette said a large but undetermined amount of fuel had also spilled into the Chaudiere (Ah-DER-Re) River. Blanchette said the 73 cars were filled with crude oil, and at least four were damaged by the explosions and fire.

"We also have a spill on the lake and the river that is concerning us. We have advised the local municipalities downstream to be careful if they take their water from the Chaudiere River."

He added that a mobile laboratory had been set up to monitor the quality of the air.

Firefighters and rescue workers from several neighboring municipalities, including Sherbrooke and Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, were called in to help deal with the disaster.

Firefighters from northern Maine were also deployed to the Quebec town, according to a spokesman at the sheriff's office in Franklin County.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his sympathy in a statement.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those affected by this morning's tragic train derailment and subsequent fires in Lac-Megantic, Quebec," Harper said.

"We hope evacuees can return to their homes safely and quickly. The people of Lac-Megantic and surrounding areas can rest assured that our government is monitoring the situation and we stand by ready to provide any assistance requested by the province."

The train, reportedly heading toward Maine, belongs to Montreal Maine & Atlantic. According to the railroad's website, the company owns more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) of track serving Maine, Vermont, Quebec and New Brunswick.

Last week a train carrying petroleum products derailed in Calgary, Alberta, when a flood-damaged bridge sagged toward the still-swollen Bow River. The derailed rail cars were removed without spilling their cargo.

The Quebec accident is likely to have an impact across the border. In Maine, environmentalists and state officials have previously raised concerns about the threat of an accident and a spill from railroad tank cars carrying crude oil across the state.

The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway carried nearly 3 million barrels of oil across Maine last year. Each tank car holds some 30,000 gallons (113,600 liters) of oil.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has begun developing protection plans for the areas where the trains travel, spokeswoman Samantha Warren said recently.

Heat wave in Massachusetts brings 'tropical' conditions

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Heat advisories were issued across the state, with accompanying warnings to stay out of the sun or take frequent breaks when spending time outside.

heat2.JPGSPRINGFIELD - Swimmers try to stay cool at Five Mile Pond in Springfield Saturday, as temperatures were again over 90 degrees.  

SPRINGFIELD - Local residents sought various methods of relief from "tropical heat" that persisted today with 90-plus temperatures that felt like 100-plus temperatures due to the humidity, according to CBS3 meteorologist Nick Morganelli.

Air-conditioned shopping malls and public lakes saw a spike in activity today as everyone tried to beat the heat.

Heat advisories were issued across the state, with accompanying warnings to stay out of the sun or take frequent breaks when spending time outside.

"There will be a slight break in the high heat and combined humidity by the middle and end of next week. Until then, it will remain very tropical. A front will approach late in the week with a round of showers and storms. We'll see a slight cool down next weekend, but the heat looks to return week after next," Morganelli said.

Woman arrested for firebombing a car in Springfield in domestic dispute

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Arpin said the alleged victim's son alerted her that something was amiss with the car, and she saw four or five people fleeing from the scene.

This is an update to a story posted at 6:32 a.m.

SPRINGFIELD - Police say a 24-year-old woman firebombed a car to punish her ex-boyfriend.

Juliana Gonzales, of Springfield, was arrested and charged with arson in connection with throwing a Molotov cocktail at a Hyundai Sante Fe outside 72 Lionel Benoit Road just after 4 a.m. on Saturday, according to Sgt. Sean Arpin.

He said the 41-year-old owner of the car is the mother of Gonzales's ex-boyfriend, and that Gonzalez had made threats against the vehicle in the past.

Arpin said the alleged victim's son alerted her that something was amiss with the car, and she saw four or five people fleeing from the scene. She identified one as Gonzales, however, who was arrested near the scene of the fire.

Gonzales will be arraigned in Springfield District Court on Monday.

Two dead, 181 injured, 1 missing after airliner crash lands in San Francisco

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Passengers could be seen jumping down the inflatable emergency slides.


By TERRY COLLINS
and JOAN LOWY

SAN FRANCISCO — An Asiana Airlines flight packed with more than 300 people slammed into the runway while landing at San Francisco airport Saturday and caught fire, forcing many to escape by sliding down the emergency inflatable slides as flames tore through the plane.

At least two people died in the crash, authorities said. One person was unaccounted for and another 181 people were taken to hospitals, most of them with minor injuries.

As the plane approached the runway from the waters of San Francisco Bay around noon, travelers in the terminals and others eyewitnesses could see that the aircraft was swaying unusually from side to side and that at one point the tail seemed to hit the ground.

Kate Belding, who was jogging a few miles away, said she thought: "Oh my God. That plane is crashing."

By the time the flames were out, the top of the Boeing 777's fuselage had burned away. The tail section was gone, with pieces of it scattered across the beginning of the runway. One engine appeared to have broken away. Emergency responders could be seen walking inside the burned-out wreckage.

News of the crash spread quickly on Twitter and the Internet in this wired city, with eyewitnesses tweeting their stories, posting images of the plumes of smoke rising above the bay and uploading video of passengers fleeing the burning plane.

"It just looked really bad," Belding said. "I've seen the pictures of it since then, and it's amazing anyone walked out of that plane."

The investigation has been turned over to the FBI and terrorism has been ruled out, said San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said. Federal aviation and transportation investigators were heading to the scene. Asiana, Boeing and the engine manufacturer, Pratt & Whitney, pledged to work with them.

Based on witness accounts in the news and video of the wreckage, Mike Barr, a former military pilot and accident investigator who teaches aviation safety at the University of Southern California, said it appeared the plane approached the runway too low and something may have caught the runway lip — the seawall at the end of the runway.

San Francisco is one of several airports around the country that border bodies of water that have walls at the end of their runways to prevent planes that overrun a runway from ending up in the water.

Since the plane was about to land, its landing gear would have already been down, Barr said. It's possible the landing gear or the tail of the plane hit the seawall, he said. If that happened, it would effectively slam the plane into the runway, he said.

Noting that some witnesses reported hearing the plane's engines rev up just before the crash, Barr said that would be consistent with a pilot who realized at the last minute that the plane was too low and was increasing power to the engines to try to increase altitude. Barr said he could think of no reason why a plane would come in to land that low.

Belding was out jogging just before 11:30 a.m. on a path across the water from the airport when she noticed the plane approaching the runway in a way that "just didn't look like it was coming in quite right."

"Then all of a sudden I saw what looked like a cloud of dirt puffing up and then there was a big bang and it kind of looked like the plane maybe bounced (as it neared the ground)," she said. "I couldn't really tell what happened, but you saw the wings going up and (in) a weird angle."

"Not like it was cartwheeling," she said, but rather as though the wings were almost swaying from side to side.

The flight originated in Shanghai, China, and stopped over in Seoul, South Korea, before coming to San Francisco, airport officials said. The airline said there were 16 crew members aboard, and the 291 passengers included 77 South Koreans, 141 Chinese, 61 Americans and one Japanese citizen. The nationalities of the remaining passengers weren't immediately known.

Airport spokesman Doug Yakel said 49 people were in serious condition and 132 had less significant injuries.

The airport closed for several hours, and when it reopened, two of the four runways were operating.

Asiana is a South Korean airline, second in size to national carrier Korean Air. It has recently tried to expand its presence in the United States, and joined the Star Alliance, which is anchored in the U.S. by United Airlines.

The 777-200 is a long-range plane from Boeing. The twin-engine aircraft is one of the world's most popular long-distance planes, often used for flights of 12 hours or more, from one continent to another. The airline's website says its 777s can carry between 246 to 300 passengers.

The flight was 10 hours and 23 minutes, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service. The 777 is a smaller, wide-body jet that can travel long distances without refueling and is typically used for long flights over water.

The most notable accident involving a 777 occurred on Jan. 17, 2008 at Heathrow Airport in London. British Airways Flight 28 landed hard about 1,000 feet short of the runway and slid onto the start of the runway. The impact broke the 777-200's landing gear. There were 47 injuries, but no fatalities.

An investigation revealed ice pellets that had formed in the fuel were clogging the fuel-oil heat exchanger, blocking fuel from reaching the plane's engines. The Rolls-Royce Trent 800 series engines that were used on the plane were then redesigned.

Bill Waldock, an expert on aviation accident investigation, said he was reminded of the Heathrow accident as he watched video of Saturday's crash. "Of course, there is no indication directly that's what happened here," he said. "That's what the investigation is going to have to find out."

The Asiana 777 "was right at the landing phase and for whatever reason the landing went wrong," said Waldock, director of the Embry-Riddle University accident investigation laboratory in Prescott, Ariz.

"For whatever reason, they appeared to go low on approach and then the airplane pitched up suddenly to an extreme attitude, which could have been the pilots trying to keep it out of the ground," he said.

The last time a large U.S. airline lost a plane in a fatal crash was an American Airlines Airbus A300 taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in 2001.

Asia remains one of the fastest-growing regions for aviation in the world. Even with slowing economies in Japan and China, airlines there saw 3.7 percent more passengers than a year ago, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Finding enough experienced pilots to meet a growing number of flights is becoming a problem. A 2012 report by aircraft manufacturer Boeing said the industry would need 460,000 new commercial airline pilots in the next two decades — with 185,000 of them needed in Asia alone.

"The Asia-Pacific region continues to present the largest projected growth in pilot demand," the report said.



Revelers get ready for fireworks display at Stanley Park in Westfield

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The longtime event attracts approximately 30,000 people each year, organizers said.

WESTFIELD - People from all over the region started gathering early Saturday night for the annual "Fireworks for Freedom" celebration at Stanley Park - people like the Daley family, who consider the event a family tradition.

They arrived early to secure a prime spot underneath a tree, which provided plenty of shade as temperatures surged in the 90s.

Debbie A. Daley, of Westfield, said she likes everything about the celebration.

"I love that the whole community is here and for one day nobody has any problems. We see old friends and make new ones. And there's nothing better than a good firework with a big boom at the end," she said.

Daley added that she is also thankful for all the sacrifices made by servicemen and servicewomen that enable events like this to be held.

She was with her father, Robert L. Daley and her stepmother, Ann M. Daley, of Chester.

"Any day at Stanley Park is a good day," Robert Daley said.

Cousins Jennifer A. Machado and Kimberly Bettro, of Indian Orchard, brought their families, and crafts for the children to do in the hours before the fireworks. Machado said she loves "Ed's Fries," one of the food vendors there.

Machado's children, Jacob, 8, and Savanna, 6, raced around the field, wearing animal masks, a lion and zebra, respectively. Bettro's 4-year-old daughter Madison sported an elephant mask.

"She's too quick. I'm getting old," Jacob said about his sister.

Emcee Richard "Rick" Buzzee, a past president of the Westfield Rotary Club, which puts the event on, said last year more than 30,000 people attended. In addition to fireworks, there was entertainment from Cory and the Knightsmen Band, face painting for children, and plenty of food.

Buzzee thanked all the citizens of Westfield who make the event possible through their donations, plus the sponsors of the event - the Westfield News Group, Berkshire Bank, Westfield Bank, The Westfield Gas and Electric Department, and the city of Westfield. He said this was the Rotary Club's third year putting the longtime event on.

"We try to make it fun, and a family event," said Buzzee, adding one of the highlights is having children come down to the stage area to count down to the fireworks.

Paula A. Burke, of Agawam, said her grandchildren, Paytyn, 4, and Gavin Burke, 2, enjoyed doing the countdown last year. Burke arrived early to grab a spot near the stage so the children could dance. Before Paytyn jumped up to dance to the song "I Think We're Alone Now," she said she thought the fireworks were "cool" last year.

They were stationed next to Sarah L. Small and Michael M. Lalchandani, of Westfield. Lalchandani brought his 3-year-old daughter Sophia.

"This is one of the best ones around here," Small said about the event.

Enfield police arrest three New York men for using fake credit cards

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Police said a Target worker was punched by one of the men, after being confronted about the credit cards.

enfield police badge.jpg 

ENFIELD - Enfield police arrested three men from Brooklyn, N.Y. after they were caught with 147 fake credit cards. They tried to use several of them at the Target store at Westfield Shoppingtown Friday night.

Police Lt. William E. Zaczynski said the trio caught the attention of the store's loss prevention specialist, who, when he confronted the men, was allegedly punched by one of them. The men were later apprehended by police on Route 20 in Windsor Locks, Conn.

Zaczynski said the men were attempting to buy gift certificates, and were trying different credit cards to make the purchases. They are all being held on a bond of $150,000 and will be arraigned Monday in Enfield Superior Court.

Arrested on charges of conspiracy and 147 counts of fake credit card possession were Orvil Glynn, 20; Onald St. Fleur, 26; and Ledain MacIntosh, 24. Glynn was charged with assault for allegedly punching the Target worker. Glynn and MacIntosh also were arrested for threatening and breach of the peace, Zaczynski said.

He said they had $4,500 in cash in their car, as well as actual purchases from Target stores such as underwear and socks. The case remains under investigation and additional charges may be filed, he said.

"They had 11 different names on credit cards, including their own," Zaczynski said.

Bricks available from old Monson Town Hall-Police Station

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Demolition of the 1925 building was completed last month.

monson town building.JPGThe Monson Town Building, before it was demolished. 

MONSON - Bricks from 110 Main St., which most recently housed the Monson Town Building-Police Station and previously was a high school and elementary school, are available at the selectmen’s office in the Hillside Building at 29 Thompson St.

Bricks are available from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, until the pile is gone.

The 1925 building was condemned after the June 1, 2011 tornado ripped part of it off. A new combination Town Building-Police Station will be built at the same site.

The demolition
was completed last month.

Emergency crews searching for person in Connecticut River in South Hadley

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The rescue effort is in the area of Cove Island and River road.

030911 South Hadley Fire PatchThe South Hadley Fire Department's patch. 

SOUTH HADLEY - Emergency personnel from South Hadley and Holyoke are searching for a person in the Connecticut River.

WWLP.com is reporting that the rescue effort is in the area near Cove Island and River road in South Hadley.

South Hadley Fire District 1 confirmed a search is under way.

Holyoke Fire Department Lt. Thomas Paquin said the fire department has a boat in the water, assisting South Hadley Fire Department. He said the call came in just after 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

State police from the Northampton barracks are assisting; a state police helicopter also has been dispatched to the scene.


Attorney General Martha Coakley, other potential candidates for Massachusetts governor gear up for Democratic convention

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A possible wild card in next year's state election is the unfolding scandal on patronage hiring in the state Probation Department.

By DAN RING and SHIRA SCHOENBERG

BOSTON — Attorney General Martha Coakley, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Richard Sullivan Jr. and Treasurer Steve Grossman are among the possible candidates for governor next year who may be angling for support on Saturday at a state Democratic convention.

Coakley could be the third consecutive two-term attorney general to run for the corner office at the Statehouse in Boston. She also is currently the only woman considering a bid for the position.

Coakley said at the end of May that she planned to seek re-election, but recently she has been showing signs that she may instead run for governor.

"She is seriously considering it," said a source familiar with her thinking. "She has not made a decision yet."

Coakley was at first heavily favored to win the U.S. Senate special election in January of 2010, but lost to Republican Scott Brown, then a little-known state senator, by 52 percent to 47 percent. Coakley made a political comeback of sorts when she easily won re-election that year.

About 3,000 party activists are expected to attend the state Democratic convention on Saturday at the Paul E. Tsongas Arena in Lowell. Delegates will approve a platform and get the chance to size up some potential and announced candidates for governor next year.

While the likely gubernatorial candidates have been emailing activists and attending events, the convention "will be the first official coming-out party for them,” said Matt L. Barron, a Democratic political consultant with MLB Research Associates in Chesterfield.

Gov. Deval Patrick is not running for re-election, meaning the governor's contest is wide open.

gomez4.JPGGabriel Gomez, the Republican candidate in the U.S. Senate special election, pauses while addressing supporters during an election day party in Boston on June 25. Gomez lost his bid against Democrat U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, but may run for a statewide position next year. 

On the Republican side, three experienced candidates — Charles D. Baker, former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Brown, a Fox News contributor and former U.S. senator and Gabriel Gomez, the party's nominee in last month's U.S. Senate special election, are all possible candidates for governor.

On the Democratic side, Sullivan, the state energy and environmental secretary, said he is keeping his options open. He said he might run for governor, lieutenant governor or treasurer if the latter post opens.

"We're certainly looking at whatever opportunities that might be out there in 2014," Sullivan said.

"The party activists will be at the convention. I think we can continue to have those conversations."

Grossman said he will use the summer to build support. Grossman has said he is seriously considering a run for governor but he could also seek re-election as treasurer.

"I'll be out in Hampden County and Springfield four or five times in the next month doing all kinds of things," Grossman said. "So you build roots, you build a presence, you build relationships and people eventually will focus on 2014. And when they’re ready, I’ll be ready.”

joe avellone.jpgJoe Avellone 
donald berkwick.JPGDonald Berwick 

Two medical doctors – Donald M. Berwick of Newton and Joseph C. Avellone of Wellesley – have also announced they will be Democratic candidates for governor and are scheduled to address the convention.

Michael J. Albano, a Democrat and member of the Governor's Council who is supporting U. S. Rep. Michael E. Capuano, said Republicans have three possible attractive candidates for governor next year in Baker, Brown and Gomez.

Albano said Republicans can also pitch to voters a strong argument to provide more party balance in the state Legislature. Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 5 to 1 in the 200-position Legislature.

Albano said it could be difficult for Democrats to retain the governor's office after holding it for eight years.

011813 michael albano.JPGMichael Albano 

Albano said recent history shows that other state constitutional offices don't fare well as candidates for governor. Albano referred to the failed attempts of then-former attorney general Francis X. Bellotti in 1990, Democrats L. Scott Harshbarger in 1998 and Thomas F. Reilly in 2006, both then incumbent attorney generals, and then-Treasurer Shannon P. O'Brien in 2002.

Albano created a political action committee to draft Capuano for governor. Albano cited Capuano's experience as former mayor of Somerville and as an eight-term member of the U.S. House, his record as a progressive and abilities to fire up the party's base.

In an interview, Patrick said he is planning to attend the convention and believes he will give a speech. Patrick reiterated that he will not be running for a third term.

Patrick said the Democratic Party will have a broad and deep pool of candidates for governor. Patrick said he will not endorse a candidate during the party's primary for governor.

John E . Walsh, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said candidates for governor and other offices will have plenty of opportunities during the weekend to meet and connect with party activists who could also be delegates at next year's endorsement convention before the primary next year.

Walsh said the party has some "excellent qualified candidates" to succeed Patrick. Walsh said Democrats won't take the governor's contest for granted, but he is "very, very optimistic" the party can nominate a candidate who can win.

Under the party's leadership the past eight years, the state has been a national leader in education, access to health care, service to military veterans and energy and conservation, Walsh said. The state's economy has also recovered more quickly than many other states, Walsh said.

"Massachusetts is in a strong position on a lot of issues people care about," he said.

Raymond La Raja, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said political activists will soon start paying attention to the governor’s race now that the special Senate election is over.

La Raja said he would be surprised if Senator-elect Edward J. Markey faced a serious challenger for his Senate seat, which will also be up again in 2014.

A possible wild card in the election is the scandal on patronage hiring in the state Probation Department.

No state legislators have been indicted, but Republicans could have a key issue if any Democratic legislative leaders face charges.

The state's former probation commissioner and two former deputy probation commissioners are scheduled for at least a month-long trial in January in U.S. District Court on multiple counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit bribery and bribery.


Obituaries today: Daniel Diaz owned Pety's Texaco Station in Springfield

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Obituaries from The Republican.

 
070713-Diaz-dan.JPGDaniel Diaz 

Daniel Diaz, 65, of Springfield, died Thursday. He was born in Puerto Rico, and in 1958 his parents moved to Springfield with their nine children and started the Diaz Tropical Products business in the North End of Springfield. Daniel later acquired Pety's Texaco Station on Main Street, which he owned and operated.

Obituaries from The Republican:


Search continues in South Hadley for missing girl in Connecticut River

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Police continue to search for missing child in Connecticut River.

SOUTH HADLEY — Emergency crews continue to search for a 5-year-old girl who went missing Saturday night in the Connecticut River.

State police are not releasing any information on the rescue efforts and have referred all questions to the Northwestern District Attorney's office.

Mary Carey, Communications Director for the Northwestern District Attorney's Office, said state police, South Hadley police, South Hadley fire department personnel and the state Environmental Police continue to search the river for the child.

The call came in just before 9:30 p.m. Saturday. State police said the girl is believed to have fallen into the river from a residence on Cove Island Road.


Six passengers still critical from San Francisco plane crash, fire chief says

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As investigators try to determine what caused the crash of Flight 214 that killed two passengers Saturday at San Francisco International Airport, the accident left many wondering how nearly all 307 people aboard were able to make it out alive.

SAN FRANCISCO — Police officers threw utility knives up to crew members inside the burning wreckage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 so they could cut away passengers' seat belts. Passengers jumped down emergency slides, escaping the smoke. One walked through a hole where a rear bathroom had been.

Amid the chaos, some urged fellow passengers to keep calm, even as flames tore through the Boeing 777's fuselage.

As investigators try to determine what caused the crash of Flight 214 that killed two passengers Saturday at San Francisco International Airport, the accident left many wondering how nearly all 307 people aboard were able to make it out alive.

"It's miraculous we survived," said passenger Vedpal Singh, who had a fractured collarbone and whose arm was in a sling.

Investigators took the flight data recorder to Washington, D.C., overnight to begin examining its contents for clues to the last moments of the flight, officials said. They also plan to interview the pilots, the crew and passengers.

"I think we're very thankful that the numbers were not worse when it came to fatalities and injuries," said National Transportation Safety Board chief Deborah Hersman on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "It could have been much worse."

Hersman said investigators are looking into what role the shutdown of a key navigational aid may have played in the crash. She said the glide slope — a ground-based aid that helps pilots stay on course while landing — had been shut down since June.

She said pilots were sent a notice warning that the glide slope wasn't available. Hersman told CBS' "Face the Nation" that there were many other navigation tools available to help pilots land. She says investigators will be "taking a look at it all."

Since the crash, clues have emerged in witness accounts of the planes approach and video of the wreckage, leading one aviation expert to say the aircraft may have approached the runway too low and something may have caught the runway lip — part of a seawall at the foot of the runway.

San Francisco is one of several airports around the country that border bodies of water that have walls at the end of their runways to prevent planes that overrun a runway from ending up in the water.

Since the plane was about to land, its landing gear would have already been down, said Mike Barr, a former military pilot and accident investigator who teaches aviation safety at the University of Southern California.

It's possible the landing gear or the tail of the plane hit the seawall, he said. If that happened, it would effectively slam the plane into the runway.

Noting that some witnesses reported hearing the plane's engines rev up just before the crash, Barr said that would be consistent with a pilot who realized at the last minute that the plane was too low and was increasing power to the engines to try to increase altitude.

Barr said he could think of no reason why a plane would come in to land that low.

"When you heard that explosion, that loud boom and you saw the black smoke ... you just thought, my god, everybody in there is gone," said Ki Siadatan, who lives a few miles away from the airport and watched the plane's "wobbly" and "a little bit out of control" approach from his balcony.

"My initial reaction was I don't see how anyone could have made it," he said.

Inside the plane, Singh, who was sitting in the middle of the aircraft with his family, said there was no forewarning from the pilot or any crew members before the plane touched down hard and he heard a loud sound.

"We knew something was horrible wrong," said a visibly shaken Singh. He said the plane went silent before people tried to get out anyway they could. His 15-year-old son said luggage tumbled from the overhead bins.

Passenger Benjamin Levy said it looked to him that the plane was flying too low and too close to the bay as it approached the runway. Levy, who was sitting in an emergency exit row, said he felt the pilot try to lift the jet up before it crashed.

He said he thought the maneuver might have saved some lives. "Everybody was screaming. I was trying to usher them out," he recalled of the first seconds after the landing. "I said: 'Stay calm, stop screaming, help each other out, don't push.'"

Wen Zhang said she could feel the plane's tail hit the ground. Baggage was falling around her, people were screaming and the aisle window broke.

Zhang picked up her 4-year-old son, who had hit the seat in front of him and broke his leg. Unhurt, she carried him through the hole where the bathroom was and went out onto the tarmac.

"I had no time to be scared," she said.

By the time the flames were out, much of the top of the fuselage had burned away. The tail section was gone, with pieces of it scattered across the beginning of the runway. One engine appeared to have broken away.

The flight originated in Shanghai, China, and stopped over in Seoul, South Korea, before making the nearly 11-hour trip to San Francisco, airport officials said. The airline said there were 16 crew members aboard and 291 passengers. Thirty of the passengers were children.

San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White said 19 people remain hospitalized, six of them in critical condition.

She said at a news conference outside San Francisco General Hospital the two 16-year-old girls who died were found on either side of the plane near the "front middle." Investigators are determining whether they were alive or dead when rescuers reached the scene.

Hayes-White said first responders told her they saw people at the edge of the bay dousing themselves with water, possibly to cool burn injuries.

South Korean government said the passengers included 141 Chinese, 77 South Koreans, 61 Americans, three Canadians, three from India, one Japanese, one Vietnamese and one from France, while the nationalities of the remaining three haven't been confirmed.

Chinese state media identified the dead as two 16-year-old girls from China's eastern Zhejiang province. China Central Television cited a fax from Asiana Airlines to the Jiangshan city government. They were identified as Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia.

At least 70 Chinese students and teachers were on the plane heading to summer camps, according to education authorities in China.

Asiana President Yoon Young-doo said at a televised news conference that it will take time to determine the cause of the crash. But when asked about the possibility of engine or mechanical problems, he said he doesn't believe they could have been the cause.

He said the plane was bought in 2006 but didn't provide further details. Asiana officials later said the plane was also built that year.

Yoon also bowed and offered an apology, "I am bowing my head and extending my deep apology" to the passengers, their families and the South Korean people over the crash, he said.

Four pilots were aboard the plane and they rotated on a two-person shift during the flight, according to The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in South Korea. The two who piloted the plane at the time of crash were Lee Jeong-min and Lee Gang-guk.

Yoon, the Asiana president, described the pilots as "skilled," saying three had logged more than 10,000 hours each of flight time. He said the fourth had put in almost that much time, but officials later corrected that to say the fourth had logged nearly 5,000 hours. All four are South Koreans.

Asiana is a South Korean airline, second in size to national carrier Korean Air. It has recently tried to expand its presence in the United States, and joined the Star Alliance, which is anchored in the U.S. by United Airlines.

The 777-200 is a long-range plane from Boeing. The twin-engine aircraft is often used for flights from one continent to another because it can travel 12 hours or more without refueling.

The most notable accident involving a 777 occurred on Jan. 17, 2008 at Heathrow Airport in London. British Airways Flight 28 landed hard about 1,000 feet short of the runway and slid onto the start of the runway. The impact broke the 777-200's landing gear. There were 47 injuries, but no fatalities.

With help from Project Coach, Springfield's Loeb Rosario learns from professional coaches with USA Basketball

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Project Coach seemed like a natural fit from the beginning, said Loeb Rosario, who is studying exercise and sports studies at Springfield Technical Community College.

LOEB.JPGLoeb Rosario 

SPRINGFIELD

– It might not take a coach to know one, but coaches seem able to sense leadership when it’s nearby. Thus, Loeb Rosario.

Rosario, now 19, was an eighth-grader at Chestnut Accelerated Middle School in Springfield when his gym teacher picked up on his talents and steered him into Project Coach.

“He said, ‘I guarantee it will be the best opportunity ever afforded you,’” Rosario recalled as he prepared to depart for Colorado and a stint with USA Basketball, the national team that competes for the U.S. in the Olympics.

Founded by two Smith College professors, Project Coach cultivates Springfield youths for coaching sports. The teenagers work with even younger students in the Springfield public schools.

Rosario, who has been with the program for six years, was coaching a group of elementary school students when he caught the eye of Koby Altman, then the assistant coach of the Amherst College basketball team. Altman saw potential and helped Rosario along.

Now the personnel manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team, Altman used his ties with USA Basketball to get Rosario a gig this spring. In his week in Denver, Colorado, Rosario met professionals like Iowa high school coach Don Showalter and David Craig, the trainer for the Indiana Pacers.

"Coach Don was really great when it came to coaching, but he was even better at encouraging others to share their opinions and share in the team’s success," Rosario said in some reflections he wrote upon his return to Springfield. "He ran his practices according to what the team needed help with and was always ready for practice."

Rosario said he got a thorough education at the USA Basketball camp.

"I did laundry, recorded video, helped with the editing, made sure the players where up for practice and in bed for eleven, passed out snacks, jumped in on drills, cleaned the gyms, filled water, set up gyms and helped the trainer," he said.

He even got a taste of what it is like working with teenage athletes who might become NBA stars.

"It was really hard at times when they behaved like children, but in my mind I had to continually remind myself they are young," he said.

Rosario, who is studying exercise and sports studies at Springfield Technical Community College, said Project Coach always seemed like a natural fit.

“I’ve always been interested in coaching,” he said. “It’s always been a passion.”

If he enjoys serving as a role model for younger kids, he enjoys watching them develop even more.

“It’s one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” Rosario said. “Having them look up to you makes you a better person.”

Best of all, he said, is when some of those youngsters come back a few years later and become coaches themselves.

“It’s really great to see,” he said.

Thunderstorm warning in effect for Western Massachusetts

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National Weather Service is reporting severe thunderstorms in Granville and Southwick.

2013-07-07_15-54-08_62.jpgThunderclouds gathering over Interstate 391 in Chicopee 

Severe thunderstorms are expected in the areas of Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester counties.

There have also been some scattered tornado warnings coming with the storms but most of those have weakened. Officials are warning people in those areas to seek shelter immediately, according to our media partners CBS3.

The National Weather Service is reporting severe thunderstorms in Granville and Southwick as well as in eastern Connecticut town of Granby, Tolland and Simsbury.

The storms are heading to Hampden County. They are bringing hail and wind gusts of up to 40 miles an hour.

The National Weather Service is also reporting a heat warning in effect. This is the fourth day that heat indices are above 100 degrees. The storms are expected to break the heat wave.

Wires are reported down on Amherst Road in Leverett and sporadic electrical issues are being reported throughout the greater Springfield area, officials said Sunday.


Voice recorder shows Asiana Airlines Flight 214 pilot tried to abort landing, NTSB says

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National Transportation Safety Board chief Deborah Hersman said at a news conference Sunday the recorder also showed there was a call to increase airspeed roughly two seconds before impact.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal safety official said the cockpit voice recorder from Asiana Airlines Flight 214 showed the jetliner tried to abort its landing and come around for another try 1.5 seconds before it crashed at San Francisco airport.

National Transportation Safety Board chief Deborah Hersman said at a news conference Sunday the recorder also showed there was a call to increase airspeed roughly two seconds before impact.

Before that, she said, there was no indication in the recordings that the aircraft was having any problems before it crashed Saturday, killing two passengers and injuring scores of others.

Investigators took the flight data recorder to Washington, D.C., overnight to begin examining its contents for clues to the last moments of the flight, officials said. They also plan to interview the pilots, the crew and passengers.

"I think we're very thankful that the numbers were not worse when it came to fatalities and injuries," Hersman told NBC's "Meet the Press." ''It could have been much worse."

Hersman said investigators are looking into what role the shutdown of a key navigational aid may have played in the crash. She said the glide slope -- a ground-based aid that helps pilots stay on course while landing -- had been shut down since June.

She said pilots were sent a notice warning that the glide slope wasn't available. Hersman told CBS' "Face the Nation" that there were many other navigation tools available to help pilots land. She says investigators will be "taking a look at it all."

Since the crash, clues have emerged in witness accounts of the planes approach and video of the wreckage, leading one aviation expert to say the aircraft may have approached the runway too low and something may have caught the runway lip -- part of a seawall at the foot of the runway.

San Francisco is one of several airports around the country that border bodies of water that have walls at the end of their runways to prevent planes that overrun a runway from ending up in the water.

Since the plane was about to land, its landing gear would have already been down, said Mike Barr, a former military pilot and accident investigator who teaches aviation safety at the University of Southern California.

It's possible the landing gear or the tail of the plane hit the seawall, he said. If that happened, it would effectively slam the plane into the runway.

Noting that some witnesses reported hearing the plane's engines rev up just before the crash, Barr said that would be consistent with a pilot who realized at the last minute that the plane was too low and was increasing power to the engines to try to increase altitude.

Barr said he could think of no reason why a plane would come in to land that low.

"When you heard that explosion, that loud boom and you saw the black smoke ... you just thought, my god, everybody in there is gone," said Ki Siadatan, who lives a few miles away from the airport and watched the plane's "wobbly" and "a little bit out of control" approach from his balcony.

"My initial reaction was I don't see how anyone could have made it," he said.

Inside the plane, passenger Vedpal Singh, who had a fractured collarbone and whose arm was in a sling, was sitting in the middle of the aircraft with his family. He said there was no forewarning from the pilot or any crew members before the plane touched down hard and he heard a loud sound.

"We knew something was horrible wrong," said a visibly shaken Singh. He said the plane went silent before people tried to get out anyway they could. His 15-year-old son said luggage tumbled from the overhead bins.

Passenger Benjamin Levy said it looked to him that the plane was flying too low and too close to the bay as it approached the runway. Levy, who was sitting in an emergency exit row, said he felt the pilot try to lift the jet up before it crashed.

He said he thought the maneuver might have saved some lives. "Everybody was screaming. I was trying to usher them out," he recalled of the first seconds after the landing. "I said: 'Stay calm, stop screaming, help each other out, don't push.'"

Wen Zhang said she could feel the plane's tail hit the ground. Baggage was falling around her, people were screaming and the aisle window broke.

Zhang picked up her 4-year-old son, who had hit the seat in front of him and broke his leg. Unhurt, she carried him through the hole where the bathroom was and went out onto the tarmac.

"I had no time to be scared," she said.

Shi Da, a product manager at an Internet company in Hangzhou, China, said he was sitting with his wife and teenage son near the back of the plane. When he felt the plane hit the ground, he said, oxygen masks dropped down.

And when he stood up in a cabin, he could see the tail where the galley was torn away, leaving a gaping hole through which he could see the runway. After escaping, they watched the plane catch fire, and firefighters hose it down. They suffered some cuts and have neck and back pain.

"I just feel lucky," he said. "We are so lucky we sit beside the tail and we can leave the plane in the first place."

By the time the flames were out, much of the top of the fuselage had burned away. The tail section was gone, with pieces of it scattered across the beginning of the runway. One engine appeared to have broken away.

The flight originated in Shanghai, China, and stopped over in Seoul, South Korea, before making the nearly 11-hour trip to San Francisco, airport officials said. The airline said there were 16 crew members aboard and 291 passengers. Thirty of the passengers were children.

San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White said 19 people remain hospitalized, six of them in critical condition.

She said at a news conference outside San Francisco General Hospital the two 16-year-old girls who died were found on either side of the plane near the "front middle." Investigators are determining whether they were alive or dead when rescuers reached the scene.

Hayes-White said first responders told her they saw people at the edge of the bay dousing themselves with water, possibly to cool burn injuries.

San Francisco General Hospital Chief of Surgery Margaret Knudson said at least two people injured that were treated there are paralyzed and two others suffered road rash-type injuries suggesting they were dragged.

She said doctors at the hospital have also seen abdominal and orthopedic injuries and head trauma. Patients with severe abdominal injuries and spinal fractures appear to have suffered them from being thrown forward and back while restrained by seat belts.

South Korean government said the passengers included 141 Chinese, 77 South Koreans, 61 Americans, three Canadians, three from India, one Japanese, one Vietnamese and one from France, while the nationalities of the remaining three haven't been confirmed.

Chinese state media identified the dead as two 16-year-old girls from China's eastern Zhejiang province. China Central Television cited a fax from Asiana Airlines to the Jiangshan city government. They were identified as Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia.

At least 70 Chinese students and teachers were on the plane heading to summer camps, according to education authorities in China.

Asiana President Yoon Young-doo said at a televised news conference that it will take time to determine the cause of the crash. But when asked about the possibility of engine or mechanical problems, he said he doesn't believe they could have been the cause.

He said the plane was bought in 2006 but didn't provide further details. Asiana officials later said the plane was also built that year.

Yoon also bowed and offered an apology, "I am bowing my head and extending my deep apology" to the passengers, their families and the South Korean people over the crash, he said.

Four pilots were aboard the plane and they rotated on a two-person shift during the flight, according to The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in South Korea. The two who piloted the plane at the time of crash were Lee Jeong-min and Lee Gang-guk.

Yoon, the Asiana president, described the pilots as "skilled," saying three had logged more than 10,000 hours each of flight time. He said the fourth had put in almost that much time, but officials later corrected that to say the fourth had logged nearly 5,000 hours. All four are South Koreans.

Heat, humidity expected to stay put for the week

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It also looks like the heat will remain through next week and the entire country will get hotter the following week.

2013-07-07_15-54-08_62.jpgThunderclouds gathering over Interstate 391 in Chicopee 

The heat wave is officially at an end, but residents should expect to see more of the same hot, muggy weather for as long as two weeks.

“The intense heat of 90 to 95 degrees will not be there, it will be more like 85...but the dew points will stay up near 70. It will not be comfortable,” said Meteorologist Nick Morganelli of CBS 3 Springfield, media partner of The Republican and Masslive.com.

A Bermuda high is bringing in the hot and humid weather, and the jet stream is coming in from the south and stuck in the same pattern. There is a high pressure system with drier air that may try to move in on Thursday and Friday, but it looks like it will stay north, he said.

It also looks like the heat will remain through next week and the entire country will get hotter the following week, he said.

Sunday was marked by temperatures hitting at least 93 degrees, creating the fourth day of a heat wave and a heat advisory. Thunderstorms carried heavy rains hitting areas of Palmer, Brimfield, Ludlow, Ware and Amherst the worst. Most of the storms were finished by 5 p.m., but more thunderstorm are expected Monday and Tuesday, Morganelli said.

Ludlow was hit with a small power outage of about 300 homes, and there were wires reported down in Leverett.

“There was lots and lots of lightning with these storms,” Morganelli said, adding more than 2,000 lightning bolts were detected, but most did not reach the ground.

Palmer police reported several homes were struck by lightening but it caused no severe damage.

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