About 30 girls from the Holyoke area are getting the chance to explore the sciences at UMass in four-week summer program.

AMHERST – Destiny Colon said if she hadn't been at the University of Massachusetts on a recent Thursday she would have been at her Springfield home watching television and eating potato chips.

But the14-year-old and soon-to-be-ninth-grader was at UMass, learning about polymers and 3-D printing, about what eating healthy means and how to manage a checkbook.

She is one of 30 girls participating in the Eureka! program, initiated by Girls Inc. of Holyoke and hosted by the UMass College of Natural Sciences.

The girls are on campus for four weeks arriving just after 9 each morning and getting back to Holyoke at 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursdays. Fridays are for field trips or other special programs.

This is the first year of a five-year collaboration for Eureka!

In addition to the summer sessions, the students will come back to campus during the year. Another 30 students will come on board next summer as well.
By the third summer, the intention is to place the students in laboratories, said Sarah T. Dunton, the director of education for Girls Inc.

In the Silvio O. Conte National Polymer Research Center at UMass, Sujhey Flores of Holyoke checks out how things are made on a 3D printer. She is one of about 30 girls from Holyoke GIrls Inc. taking part in the four-week Eureka! program on the campus.Photo by John Suchocki | The Republican 

The idea is to “provide hope for a positive future and see the hundreds of possibilities,” she said.

For UMass, the collaboration is a chance for community outreach and for the College of Natural Sciences to introduce more girls to STEM, the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. While UMass will hold one-day initiatives in the sciences during the year, this program is a chance to nurture relationships.

Dunton approached UMass in April. Despite the short time to prepare for a summer, she and Martha Baker, associate dean of student services, talked to Steve Goodman, the dean of the school, who agreed, as did everyone else when approached.

Dunton said the girls in the program “feel like rock stars. UMass continues to roll out the red carpet.”

The recreation staff got so involved that they produced a booklet for the students to take notes and to provide a journal of sorts to monitor what they were eating and doing to stay healthy, said Jane Markarian, the special projects and outreach manager for the college.

Three years ago, Suzanne Parker, Girls Inc. executive director, saw a Eureka! program in action in Lynn and knew she wanted to see it here.

Some of the girls in the program had never visited to UMass “and didn’t now what career meant,” she said. The girls were recruited form Holyoke and other area schools, including Springfield and Chicopee, from among “girls who are on the cusp of achievement.”

Simi Hoque, an assistant professor in building construction and technology, loved the program so much that she asked professors, grad students and others if they would donate their time to create the curriculum and teach. “There was a tremendous response (with them asking) how can we help,” she said.

She too will be leading some workshops. She said this fits in well with the Women in Science Initiative at the college to help support women in the sciences.

The students spend half their day on the sciences, one-quarter on recreation and one-quarter on personal matters like finances and social issues.

“It’s a brand new experience,” Colon said. She has enjoyed learning about polymers, which she explained are groups of molecules. She said Jell-O has polymer properties. Before the Eureka! program, “I knew Jell-O is very good to eat,” she said.

She wants to be a plastic surgeon and would be the first in her family to go to college.

Colon and Destinee Stokes, a 13-year-old from Chicopee, have become best friends in just a few days because of how much they share.

Stokes, too, loves the program. She wants to be a doctor and said she’s “been learning stuff I never learned in school…

We’ve been having a lot of fun,” she said. She especially enjoys understanding 3-D printing.

Mary Ortiz of Holyoke has fun with an iPad taking a photo of herself. She is one of about 30 girls from Holyoke Girls Inc. taking part in a four-week program in the sciences at UMass.Photo by John Suchocki | The Republican 

And Stokes is also learning about healthy eating. She said she thought that meant eating a lot of salads. But now she knows to build her plate to include grains, vegetables, meat and dairy. Both said they love the food at the dining commons here.

Colon said that even after just being on campus for four days “I know I can make a difference in my community.”

The United Way of the Pioneer Valley donated $75,000 for three years, and Girls Inc. is looking to raise additional money. For more information contact the agency at its website https://www.girlsincholyoke.org.

The robbers wore masks similar to those seen in the "Scream" movies.

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield detectives are investigating a reported home invasion Sunday morning in which the victim said three men wearing black hoodies and white masks, similar to those used in the "Scream" movies, burst into his Helberg Road home, waking him and then robbing him at gunpoint.

Springfield Police Capt. Harry Brown said police responded to the 4:23 a.m. call in the Sixteen Acres section. Officers report that the victim said the robbers had left his home after taking a gun, cash, jewelry, his cell phone and car keys.

The victim told police he was held at gunpoint perhaps as long as 90 minutes before the robbers left with the loot, and he was then able to go to his neighbor's home to call police.

Even though the thieves took his car keys, the victim's car was not taken.

The incident comes as the Springfield City Council debates a request from city police to increase the mandated hold time at pawn shops and second-hand jewelery stores from ten days to 30 days to assist investigations into such thefts. Some shop owners and City Council President James Ferrera are opposed to changing the city law.

Police say the victim in the Sixteen Acres home invasion was uninjured in the robbery.

The City Council approved taking by eminent domain private property along Route 187 under permanent and temporary easements in order to make improvements to the roadway that have been 10 years in the making.

 

WESTFIELD – The federally and state-funded, $4.5 million reconstruction of the Feeding Hills Road portion of Route 187 is slated to go out to bid next month on the City Council’s action that approved nearly $70,000 in private land takings for the endeavor.

Earlier this month, the City Council approved taking by eminent domain private property along Route 187 under permanent and temporary easements, said City Engineer Mark S. Cressotti, in order to make improvements to the state-designated roadway that have been 10 years in the making.

“The city has been working on this for a decade,” he said.

While state and federal entities will pay for the $4.5 million road project, Cressotti said Westfield is responsible for its design and land-takings at a cost of $69,000 for the land acquisitions and another $500,000 for design and permitting fees.

“We have to pay for the design and right-of-way, then the state puts the project out to bid for construction,” Cressotti said.

The 10 permanent easements, he added, will be used to accommodate current storm water drainage methods, grass swales and open-air detention basins. Drainage improvements will require the reconstruction of major support structures, and the 25 temporary easements will allow workers to access project areas through surrounding properties.

During its July 8 regular meeting, the City Council also voted to approve funding for the land takings, which will be paid for through a $2.8 million design and engineering bond, including $200,000 for easements. City Council action was required to release the funds in order for the project to move forward.

Cressotti said the reconstruction project will begin at the Westfield-Agawam line and continue 500 feet north of Old Feeding Hills Road, just short of Pontossic and Little River roads and the Little River Bridge separating Feeding Hills and Little River roads.

He expects the reconstruction of the remainder of Route 187 from Old Feeding Hills Road past the bridge to be nearly another 10 years from completion.

“We’re responsible for the entire design of Route 187 in Westfield, but because of the price, we have to break it up into pieces,” Cressotti said. “In a couple of years we’ll do Little River Road, and a couple years after that we’ll do the bridge.”

More than 50 percent of all Palmer High School graduates have successfully taken an advanced placement course, said school officials.

Palmer High SchoolRepublican file photo 

PALMER – Palmer High School recently was named to the Washington Post’s “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” list for Massachusetts.

According to information provided by the high school, this index judges the rigor of a high school by identifying how many students take advanced placement exams.

Palmer High School attributes this recognition to its partnership with the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative and its staff and students, according to a press release.

More than 50 percent of all Palmer High School graduates have successfully taken an advanced placement course.

The school ranks number 59 on the list. Other area schools also made the list.

Ranked number 8 and 9, respectively, are the private Deerfield Academy and public Northampton High School. Greenfield High School ranked number 40, while South Hadley High School came in at 45, Agawam High School at 54, Springfield Central High School at 67, East Longmeadow High School at 76, and Easthampton High School at 78.

The suspect was himself attacked as the alleged victim's son tried to protect his mother.

HOLYOKE — A Holyoke man faces two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after police said he attacked a female neighbor in a running confrontation that sent the woman to the hospital.

Holyoke Police Lt. Isaias Cruz said John Rojko, 24, of 65 Elm Street was taken into custody shortly after 2:40 Sunday morning.

Cruz said the dispute began with a verbal argument between Rojko and a neighbor, and escalated to the point that Rojko allegedly pulled a knife and began to chase the woman. At the same time, the alleged victim's son tried to defend his mother by throwing bricks and rocks at Rojko.

Rojko reportedly cut the woman in the ensuing confrontation and she was taken to Holyoke Medical Center, where she was treated and later released.

Rojko will be arraigned in Holyoke District Court Monday.

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Excessive heat and humidity delayed trash collection for a few days in parts of the city recently.

HOLYOKE -- Two candidates for mayor are clashing over trash.

William P. Moran, a former provisional fire chief, said he was moved to issue a challenge to Daniel J. Szostkiewicz after the former mayor was critical of a recent delay in trash collection that left bags of garbage out in sweltering weather on the basis it was a health hazard.

Moran said the comments of Szostkiewicz, a lawyer, were unfair to Department of Public Works employees.

"I challenge him to work one week with the DPW. As far as I know, he goes to work every day in a suit and tie and an air-conditioned office. He wouldn't be able to even do a week," Moran said. "He couldn't work a week with the DPW and he's quick to attack them. These guys came to my home today at 8 a.m. and they were already sweating."

Szostkiewicz, who was mayor here from January 1996 to January 2000, said Moran misunderstood that his comments were a criticism of Mayor Alex B. Morse for failing to provide sufficient trash-collection resources.

As mayor, he did go out with trash collectors once a year, he said.

"I am sorry to see that Bill is attacking me, especially considering he was one of my most ardent campaign supporters in the past," Szostkiewicz said. "He must not understand that my comments were and are directed at Room One, as this issue is created by insufficient capital equipment, and has nothing to do with the men and women working at our DPW.

"I spoke with some of the DPW crew yesterday and shared my thoughts with them, and they know I am 100 percent on their side. Again, I wish I was not the only candidate in this race who was focusing on real quality of life issues in our city," Szostkiewicz said.

The "excessively hot weather" caused a delay in trash collection the week of July 8, but all routes were done by the end of the week, said William D. Fuqua, general superintendent of the Department of Public Works.

Morse didn't directly address Szostkiewicz' point about insufficient public works resources, saying his opponents "are welcome to argue amongst themselves."

"I'm focused on my job and I'm proud of our DPW and the work they do," Morse said.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Garry Kelly 

Garry E. Kelly, 67, of Easthampton, passed away Thursday. He graduated in 1963 from Westfield Vocational School, where a lifelong love for woodworking began. He joined the U.S. Army in 1963 and was stationed in Anchorage, Alaska, from 1964 to 1966. Upon returning, he went to work for New England Telephone and Telegraph. He worked as a foreman and a lineman, retiring in 2008. He joined the Air National Guard at Barnes 104th Fighter Wing in Westfield in 1980. He retired in 2005 as a first sergeant for the Civil Engineering Department. Garry was an avid sports fan and spent many years coaching youth basketball, little league and ice hockey.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Bergquist, Robert J.
  



• 
  Bramucci, Rosemary C.
  



• 
  Burns, Joseph W.
  



• 
  Danahy, Mary L.
  



• 
  Fahey, John M.
  



• 
  George, Irene
  



• 
  Grzelak, Lillian M.
  



• 
  Guilmain, Homer M.
  



• 
  James, Ronald A.
  



• 
  Kelly, Garry E.
  



• 
  Lamotte, Mary L.
  



• 
  Miedzinski, Hazel
  



• 
  Popoli, Andrew
  



• 
  Roberts, Louise F.
  



• 
  Rutkowski, Linda M.
  



• 
  Scott, Constance Verteramo
  



• 
  Wheeler, Kenneth R.
  

Elliot M. Levy of Longmeadow heads the 9th Massachusetts Light Artillery Civil War Reenactors..

The Battle of Gettysburg was the very first battle for the 9th Massachusetts Battery which sustained heavy casualties while holding the line for reinforcements against General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army.

Elliot M. Levy of Longmeadow, who heads the 9th Massachusetts Light Artillery Reenactors, a Civil War reenactment group, said there were 104 men in the original 9th Massachusetts Light Artillery which trained in Readville outside of Boston in the fall of 1862 and deployed to forts surrounding Washington, D.C., in the late fall of 1862, and then pushed forward and collided with Lee’s Confederate Army at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863 — 150 years ago.

“At the end of the day, 26 of the 104 men in the 9th Mass Light Artillery were killed or wounded, and 80 of 88 horses were slaughtered,” Levy said.

There were two Springfield men in the 9th Massachusetts Battery, but they joined the battery after the Battle of Gettysburg.

“Four of the six cannons were captured by the Confederates,” Levy said.

“At Gettysburg, the 9th was ordered to stand its ground while a rear guard assembled,” Levy said.

“Many men fought to the death,” Levy said. “They were admirable. I am in awe of them.”

“This was a different era,” Levy added. “Soldiers did not want to do a disservice to their unit, or friends or hometown.”

The Battle of Gettysburg, which came to be seen as a turning point in the Civil War, involved 165,000 Confederate and Union soldiers. The nearly 50,000 casualties made it the most costly battle in American history.

On July 5, 6 and 7 — to recognize the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg — Levy and his reenactment group traveled to Gettysburg and participated in a reenactment of the battle in temperatures of 95 to 100 degrees and high humidity - the same weather condition in which the battle was fought 150 years ago.

“We arrived on the Fourth, and set up camp,” Levy said.

Levy said he played the character of Capt. John Bigelow of Brighton in the reenactment, who was wounded, but survived.

He said he was carried off the field by Charles Wellington Reed of Charlestown, a bugler.

During the reenactment, black powder was shot from the cannons. Pyrotechnics made the ground explode.

The uniforms were authentic wool reproductions from head to toe.

“Wool was durable and it wicks water,” Levy said. He said it would have been hard for the Union forces to get cotton.

The Battle of Gettysburg ended with Pickett’s Charge in which the Confederates sustained horrendous casualties as they attempted to penetrate the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great losses to the Confederate Army. The Confederate Army never reached further north than it did at Gettysburg, Levy said.

There are two members of the 9th buried at Gettysburg: John Crosson of Boston, who was a clerk, and Arthur Murphy of Brighton, a butcher.

“We conducted a service at the graves,” Levy said.

There are monuments to the 9th - at Wheatfield Road by the Peach Orchard where the unit fought and at Trostle Farm.

The monuments were designed by Reed.

“After the reenactment we went to the monuments in the late afternoon and read the history and the names of those killed,” Levy said.

“It was chilling to stand on that ground,” Levy said.

The plagiarism was discovered by a suspicious teacher who used Google to find the original column from Forbes magazine.

BOSTON (AP) — A Boston middle school principal is under fire after admitting she plagiarized a Forbes magazine column in an effort to inspire staff.

Jaime Moody, the new principal at Lilla Frederick Pilot Middle School, said in an apology obtained by The Boston Globe she "inappropriately copied words from another author and passed them off as my own." She also apologized to the school department and the original author.

The plagiarism was discovered by a suspicious teacher who used Google to find the original, which ran in Forbes in April. Moody's memo included large chunks of word-for-word copying.

It's unclear what, if any punishment Moody will face. A school department spokesman said any punishment would be a confidential personnel matter.

A student caught plagiarizing gets an automatic zero for the assignment.

The statement is the first from Morsi's family since the military overthrew him on July 3 and took him into custody.

TONY G. GABRIEL
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — The family of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi accused the country's military generals Monday of "kidnapping" him, and said that it holds the army responsible for his "safety and security."

The statement is the first from Morsi's family since the military overthrew him on July 3 and took him into custody. Morsi has been held incommunicado since then. Government officials say he is safe and is being held for his own protection.

"We hold the leaders of the bloody military coup fully responsible for the safety and security of the president," the family said in a statement read out by Morsi's daughter, Shaimaa.

One of Morsi's sons, Osama, described his father's detention as the "embodiment of the abduction of popular will and a whole nation," and said the family will "take all legal actions" to end his detention.

"What happened is a crime of kidnapping," said Osama, who is a lawyer. "I can't find any legal means to have access to him."

He said that the family met with Morsi for the last time on July 3, shortly before his ouster. Since then, they have had no contact with him.

"We warn Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi and his coup leaders against harming the life, health or safety of the legitimate President, our father," he added.

El-Sissi, the country's defense minister and army chief, led the military's ouster of Morsi after four days of mass protests demanding the president step down.

Speaking at the same news conference, the secretary-general of the doctor's syndicate, Gamal Abdel-Salam, said the union has asked the military to grant doctors access to Morsi to check his health. He said the deposed president suffers from diabetes and liver problems.

Morsi's son, however, denied that his father has health problems.

The Muslim Brotherhood, from which Moris hails, and his Islamist allies have held near daily street protest in Cairo and across the country to demand that he be reinstated.

There are no memories of lightning ever damaging the building since it opened in 1798, but engineers say the rods are vital to ensuring the safety of the historic building for years to come.

BOSTON (AP) — A $20 million exterior makeover of the Massachusetts Statehouse includes the installation of lightning rods for the first time in the building's 215-year history.

One of those lightning rods is being placed inside the decorative pine cone that adorns the top of the cupola atop the building's golden dome.

There are no memories of lightning ever damaging the building since it opened in 1798, but engineers say the rods are vital to ensuring the safety of the historic building for years to come.

The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/15BGUBm ) reports that the pine cone's wooden cap is being replaced with metal, and a copper cable threaded through the middle to the ground to protect it from electrical strikes.

Other cupola repairs include new paint and the replacement of rotted timbers.

___

Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com

The Belchertown Board of Selectmen's meeting scheduled for July 22 has been rescheduled to Monday, July 29th.

b

Jim Russell 

BELCHERTOWN -- The Belchertown Board of Selectmen's meeting scheduled for July 22 has been rescheduled to Monday, July 29th.

The meeting will take place in the Selectmen's Meeting Room on the first floor of Lawrence Memorial Hall, 2 Jabish Street, Belchertown, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Police said the incident began as a dispute between neighbors.

The Republican [file]

CHICOPEE -- Police charged a Rivers Avenue man and woman with home invasion Saturday night after they allegedly entered an apartment and threatened to harm the occupants.

Capt. Daniel Sullivan said the incident began shortly before 7:45 p.m. when police were summoned to an apartment complex on Rivers Avenue for a dispute between neighbors.

Officers quelled the disturbance but were summoned again to the same complex about 20 minutes later. One of the suspects, Jose Antonio Rosa, 28, of 46 Rivers Ave., Apt. 2L, allegedly threw a can of vegetables at a neighbor’s vehicle, damaging the windshield.

Rosa and Jessica B. Reed, 23, same address, then entered the neighbors' apartment and threatened them, Sullivan said.

Along with home invasion, Rosa was charged with vandalizing property and Reed had an outstanding warrant, issued out of Springfield District Court, for breaking and entering, Sullivan said.

What baby name would you choose for the royal baby?

Prince William and Duchess Kate have maintained total secrecy when it comes to the gender of their baby, as well as any names under consideration. That of course hasn't stopped millions watching around the world from speculating and chiming in with their own suggestions.

Now it's your turn: what baby name would you choose for the royal baby? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

The shooting marks Worcester's 5th homicide of the year.

Kevin Koczwara/MassLive.com 

WORCESTER — Police seek the public’s help as they probe a Constitution Avenue shooting Sunday night that left a 28-year-old man dead.

Police were summoned to a courtyard in the area of 203 and 205 Constitution Ave. shortly before 9:10 p.m. Upon arrival, dispatchers reported that the victim had already been taken to a hospital.

He was pronounced dead a short time later.

Detectives also are probing a large fight that occurred earlier in the evening at Roberto Clemente Field and attempting to determine if it is related to the homicide.

Kathleen Daley, a spokeswoman for Worcester police, said the homicide is Worcester’s fifth of the year and the first that has not been related to a domestic incident.

Police have yet to release the name of the victim.

Police believe numerous witnesses were in the area at the time of the shooting. Anonymous calls can be made to the detective bureau at (508) 799-8651.

Those with information can also use the Text-A-Tip service by sending an anonymous text to 274637TIPWPD plus the message. Anonymous web-based messages can also be sent to worcesterma.gov/police.

The city’s most recent homicide, prior to Sunday night, occurred on July 11 when an apparent domestic-related murder/suicide took the lives of 1 Thistle Lane residents Ellen Maher, 71, and Vincent Maher, 70.

Sarno said that he appreciates the "due diligence" by the council on residency, but was vetoing the changes based on a legal opinion from City Solicitor Edward Pikula.

SPRINGFIELD — Mayor Domenic J. Sarno announced Monday that he will veto a recent vote by the City Council, in which the council was seeking to alter the mayor’s powers to grant new waivers to the city’s residency requirement for city employees.

Domenic SarnoFile photo / The Republican 

The council voted 9-3 on July 15 to change the city’s residency ordinance so that the mayor could not grant new waivers to department heads and deputy directors, effective Jan. 1, 2014. In addition, the ordinance was changed so that the director of labor relations would have to take additional steps before any new waivers are considered by the mayor for other municipal employees.

Sarno said that he appreciates the “due diligence” by the council on residency, but was vetoing the changes based on a legal opinion from City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula.

“I understand the issue clearly,” Sarno said. “As in past practice and in moving forward, I do not intend to grant waivers, unless there are extenuating circumstances in which, as always, we need to hire the most qualified and competent individual to provide the best possible services to our taxpayers.”

Under state law, the 13-member City Council could override a mayoral veto with a two-thirds majority vote, needing nine votes to override. The council cannot act until seven days have passed after the veto.

Pikula's legal opinion stated in part: “Eliminating existing waivers as well as the
Mayor’s discretionary authority to grant future waivers is not an effective means of managing residency in the City as it interferes with the Mayor’s inherent authority under the City’s charter and would also expose the City to lawsuits and a likelihood of substantial damages”

In addition, Sarno said Pikula cited “the lack of data to justify a blanket policy applicable to the small number of employees at issue here.”

Most employees, including police, firefighters and teachers, are exempt from the residency requirement either through state law or collective bargaining, Sarno said.

“This would support discrimination against non-resident employees versus resident employees,” Sarno said. “It is the solicitor’s recommendation that any attempt to impose new residency requirements be deferred until justifiable evidence to support the ordinance has been accumulated by a study in order to avoid a constitutional challenge based on a claimed violation of Privileges and Immunities clause to the United States Constitution.”

This is a developing story and will be updated on MassLive.com as our reporting continues, and in The Republican

Three years after campaigning on a vow to "repeal and replace" President Barack Obama's health care law, House Republicans have yet to advance an alternative for the system they have voted more than three dozen times to abolish in whole or in part.

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three years after campaigning on a vow to "repeal and replace" President Barack Obama's health care law, House Republicans have yet to advance an alternative for the system they have voted more than three dozen times to abolish in whole or in part.

Officially, the effort is "in progress" — and has been since Jan. 19, 2011, according to GOP.gov, a leadership-run website.

But internal divisions, disagreement about political tactics and Obama's 2012 re-election add up to uncertainty over whether Republicans will vote on a plan of their own before the 2014 elections, or if not by then, perhaps before the president leaves office, more than six years after the original promise.

Sixteen months before those elections, some Republicans cite no need to offer an alternative. "I don't think it's a matter of what we put on the floor right now," said Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, who heads the party's campaign committee. He added that what is important is "trying to delay Obamacare."

Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, who leads a committee with jurisdiction over health care, said, "If we are successful in ultimately repealing this legislation, then yes, we will have a replacement bill ready to come back with."

Divisions were evident earlier this year, when legislation to make it easier for high-risk individuals to purchase coverage died without a vote. It was sidetracked after conservatives, many of them elected with tea party support, objected to any attempt to improve the current law rather than scuttle it.

With the rank and file growing more conservative, some Republicans acknowledge that without changes, they likely couldn't pass the alternative measure they backed when Democrats won approval for Obama's bill in 2010. Among other provisions, it encouraged employers to sign up their workers for health insurance automatically, so that employees would have to "opt out" of coverage if they didn't want it, and provided federal money for state-run high-risk pools for individuals and for reinsurance in the small group market.

The current state of intentions contrasts sharply with the Pledge to America, the manifesto that Republicans campaigned on in 2010 when they took power away from the Democrats. That included a plan to "repeal and replace" what it termed a government takeover of health care.

It promised "common-sense solutions focused on lowering costs and protecting American jobs," including steps to overhaul medical malpractice laws and permit the sale of insurance across state lines. Republicans said they would "empower small businesses with greater purchasing power and create new incentives to save for future health care needs." They promised to "protect the doctor-patient relationship, and ensure that those with pre-existing conditions gain access to the coverage they need."

But Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., said, "We never did see a repeal and replace bill last time," referring to the 2011-2012 two-year term that followed the Republican landslide. "I hope we can this time, and I'll keep fighting for it."

Broun, running for the Senate from Georgia in 2014 as a conservatives' conservative, has drafted legislation of his own that relies on a series of tax breaks and regulatory changes such as permitting insurance companies to sell coverage across state lines to expand access to health care.

Other Republicans are at work on different bills, in the House Energy and Commerce Committee headed by Upton, and elsewhere.

Rep. Steven Scalise of Louisiana, who leads the conservative Republican Study Conference, said the organization is working on legislation to reduce health care costs "without the mandates and the taxes" in the current law.

Like others involved with the issue, he provided no timetable and few specifics.

At the same time, the other half of the 2010 pledge to "repeal and replace" is getting a workout.

The House voted last week to delay two requirements, the 38th and 39th time they have gone on record in favor of repealing, reducing or otherwise neutering the system that bears Obama's name.

In the case of one of the rules, a requirement for businesses to provide insurance to their workers, the administration announced a one-year delay earlier this month.

Democrats and even some Republicans say the intense focus on repealing the health law is wide of the mark.

"Every voter knows what Republicans are against. They don't know what they're for" on health care, said Rep. Steve Israel of New York, who heads House Democrats' campaign committee. He said the strategy would haunt Republicans next year among moderate and independent voters who want changes, not outright repeal.

The fate of legislation to put more funds into high-risk pools demonstrated a belief among some Republicans that they should advance alternatives. Polling presentations make the same point but are not uniformly persuasive among the rank and file, according to officials, and lawmakers' speeches sometimes make it sound as if the health law is disintegrating on its own.

Yet one prominent conservative, Ramesh Ponnuru, warned recently that it was a "perverse complacency" to do nothing while assuming the health law will implode.

"We can be sure that the Left would respond to any such collapse by making the case for a 'single payer' program in which the federal government directly provides everyone insurance," he wrote on May 30 in National Review Online.

Ponnuru added that in some Republican circles, "the idea that an alternative is necessary is seen as a mark of wimpiness, a weakness for big-government programs that are just slightly" weaker than what Democrats possess.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Edna Sullivan 

Edna J. (Magiera) Sullivan, 93, of the Indian Orchard neighborhood of Springfield, passed away on Sunday. She was born and educated in Ludlow. She was employed in Springfield and later in Agawam by the Buxton Company. She retired after more than 20 years from Standard Photo. She lived most of her life in Indian Orchard, was a member of the Daughters of Isabella and was a communicant of the Saint Jude Mission Church.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Cobb, Ronald W.
  



• 
  Cognac, Raymond H.
  



• 
  Ferreira, Oma L.
  



• 
  Miedzinski, Hazel
  



• 
  Perez, Catalino
  



• 
  Slozak, Josephine M.
  



• 
  Sullivan, Edna J.
  



• 
  Taylor, John M.
  

Massachusetts gasoline prices continued to surge another 9 cents per gallon in the past week.

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts gasoline prices continued to surge another 9 cents per gallon in the past week.

AAA Southern New England reports Monday that self-serve, regular has jumped to an average of $3.71 per gallon, which is 4 cents above the national average.

In-state prices have now leapt 23 cents per gallon in the past month and are 15 cents higher than at the same time a year ago.

AAA found self-serve, regular selling as low as $3.63 per gallon and as high as $3.89.

The fire at the Bridge Road complex was reported about 1:15 p.m.

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NORTHAMPTON -- Fire crews remain on the scene of a fire at the Meadowbrook Apartment complex on Bridge Road.

The blaze was reported at 491 Bridge Road about 1:15 p.m.

During a preliminary sweep, firefighters found a single resident with minor injuries.

The complex, owned and managed by the nonprofit Preservation of Affordable Housing, was the site of a major fire in 2009 that destroyed a 12-unit building.

Additional information on today's fire was not immediately available.

This is a developing story. A staff writer for The Republican / MassLive.com is at the scene and will offer updates as his reporting continues.

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