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Report: NSA can access most smartphone data

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The U.S. National Security Agency is able to crack protective measures on iPhones, BlackBerry and Android devices, giving it access to users' data on all major smartphones, according to a report Sunday.

nsa-spying.jpgGerman news weekly Der Spiegel reports Sunday Sept. 8, 2013 that the U.S. National Security Agency can access users' data on all major smartphones. The magazine cites internal documents from the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ in which the agencies describe setting up dedicated teams to crack protective measures on iPhones, BlackBerry and Android devices. This data includes contacts, call lists, SMS traffic, notes and location data.

BERLIN (AP) -- The U.S. National Security Agency is able to crack protective measures on iPhones, BlackBerry and Android devices, giving it access to users' data on all major smartphones, according to a report Sunday in German news weekly Der Spiegel.

The magazine cited internal documents from the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ in which the agencies describe setting up dedicated teams for each type of phone as part of their effort to gather intelligence on potential threats such as terrorists.

The data obtained this way includes contacts, call lists, SMS traffic, notes and location information, Der Spiegel reported. The documents don't indicate that the NSA is conducting mass surveillance of phone users but rather that these techniques are used to eavesdrop on specific individuals, the magazine said.

The article doesn't explain how the magazine obtained the documents, which are described as "secret." But one of its authors is Laura Poitras, an American filmmaker with close contacts to NSA leaker Edward Snowden who has published several articles about the NSA in Der Spiegel in recent weeks.

The documents outline how, starting in May 2009, intelligence agents were unable to access some information on BlackBerry phones for about a year after the Canadian manufacturer began using a new method to compress the data. After GCHQ cracked that problem, too, analysts celebrated their achievement with the word "Champagne," Der Spiegel reported.

The magazine printed several slides alleged to have come from an NSA presentation referencing the film "1984," based on George Orwell's book set in a totalitarian surveillance state. The slides -- which show stills from the film, former Apple Inc. chairman Steve Jobs holding an iPhone, and iPhone buyers celebrating their purchase -- are captioned: "Who knew in 1984...that this would be big brother...and the zombies would be paying customers?"

Snowden's revelations have sparked a heated debate in Germany about the country's cooperation with the United States in intelligence matters.

On Saturday, thousands of people in Berlin protested the NSA's alleged mass surveillance of Internet users. Many held placards with slogans such as "Stop watching us."

Separately, an incident in which a German police helicopter was used to photograph the roof of the American consulate in Frankfurt has caused a minor diplomatic incident between the two countries.

German magazine Focus reported Sunday that U.S. Ambassador John B. Emerson complained about the overflight, which German media reported was ordered by top officials after reports that the consulate housed a secret espionage site.

A U.S. embassy spokesman downplayed the story, saying "the helicopter incident was, naturally enough, the subject of embassy conversation with the Foreign Ministry, but no demarche or letter of complaint about the incident was sent to the German government."



Activists: Syrian rebels take Christian village

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Rebels including al-Qaida-linked fighters gained control of a Christian village northeast of the capital Damascus, Syrian activists said Sunday.

By JAMAL HALABY

AMMAN, Jordan — Rebels including al-Qaida-linked fighters gained control of a Christian village northeast of the capital Damascus, Syrian activists said Sunday. Government media provided a dramatically different account of the battle suggesting regime forces were winning.

It was impossible to independently verify the reports from Maaloula, a scenic mountain community known for being one of the few places in the world where residents still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic. The village is on a UNESCO list of tentative world heritage sites.

The rebel advance into the area this week was spearheaded by Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, exacerbating fears among Syrians and religious minorities about the role played by Islamic extremists within the rebel ranks.

It was not immediately clear why the army couldn't sufficiently reinforce its troops to prevent the rebel advance in the area some 45 kilometers (25 miles) from Damascus. Some activists say that Assad's forces are stretched thin, fighting in other areas in the north and south of the country.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said Jabhat al-Nusra backed by another group, the Qalamon Liberation Front, moved into the village after heavy clashes with the army late Saturday. He said around 1,500 rebels are inside the town.

"The army pulled back to the outskirts of the village and both (rebel groups) are in total control of Maaloula now," Abdul-Rahman said.

He said pro-government fighters remain inside the village, in hiding.

Initially, troops loyal to President Bashar Assad moved into Maaloula early Saturday, he said, "but they left when rebels started pouring into the village." Now, Abdul-Rahman said, the army is surrounding the village and controlling its entrances and exits.

A Maaloula resident said the rebels, many of them sporting beards and shouting God is great, attacked Christian homes and churches shortly after moving into the village overnight.

"They shot and killed people. I heard gunshots and then I saw three bodies lying in the middle of a street in the old quarters of the village," said the resident, reached by telephone from neighboring Jordan. "So many people fled the village for safety."

Now, Maaloula "is a ghost town. Where is President Obama to see what befallen on us?" asked the man.

Another resident who fled the village of 3,000 inhabitants earlier in the day said in a telephone interview that Assad's forces deployed on the outskirts of the village, while gunmen inside refused to allow anybody in.

He said the gunmen declined to allow fleeing people to take five dead bodies out of the village with them.

He said one of the churches, called Demyanos, had been torched and that gunmen stormed into two other churches and robbed them.

Most of the gunmen are foreigners, he said, adding that he heard different dialects, mainly of Tunisians, Libyans, Moroccans and Chechens.

Another resident, a Christian man, said he saw militants forcing some Christian residents to convert to Islam. "I saw the militants grabbing five villagers Wednesday and threatening them (saying): 'Either you convert to Islam, or you will be beheaded,'" he said.

The two other residents said they heard about the conversions, but did not see them. All three spoke on condition of anonymity out of fears of retaliation. A Christian woman who spoke to the AP on Thursday also said there were reports that militants threatened villagers with death if they did not convert.

Syria's state SANA news agency said the army reported "progress" in its offensive against the rebels in Maaloula. "The army inflicted heavy losses in the ranks of the terrorists," it said, using a government term to describe the rebels.

"Military operations are continuing in the vicinity of Maaloula and its entrances," SANA said.

State-run TV reported that all churches in Maaloula were now safe and the army was chasing gunmen in the western hills.

The development came as President Barack Obama's administration pressed ahead with efforts to win congressional backing and international support for military strikes against Syria over an alleged chemical attack in August outside Damascus.

The U.S. says Assad's forces fired rockets loaded with the nerve agent sarin on rebel-held areas near the capital before dawn on Aug. 21, killing at least 1,429 people. Other estimates put the death toll from the attack at more than 500.

Back in Washington after a trip to Europe that included a two-day visit to Russia to attend a Group of 20 summit, Obama will intensify his efforts to sell a skeptical Congress and a war-weary American public on a military strike against Syria.

A passionate debate is already underway in Congress and the administration's lobbying campaign culminates Tuesday, as Obama gives an Oval Office speech the evening before a critical vote on the possible Syria action is expected in the Senate.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius questioned in a television interview Sunday Assad's willingness for a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

"No one is for war," Fabius told France 3 TV. "The question we ask is if we want to get to a political resolution, will Bashar Assad accept if nothing is done? My opinion is no. There has to be a firm response to push toward a political negotiation."

Fabius said that a military intervention didn't require every country to be behind it. He said: "We must be vigilant against barbarity."

Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.

Diana Nyad's team responds to skeptics doubting her swim

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Diana Nyad's 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida has generated positive publicity and adoration for the 64-year-old endurance athlete — along with skepticism from some members of the small community of marathon swimmers who are questioning whether she accomplished the feat honestly.

910nyad.JPGIn this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Diana Nyad, positioned about two miles off Key West, Fla., Monday, Sept. 2, 2013, swims towards the completion of her 111-mile trek from Cuba to the Florida Keys. Nyad, 64, is be first swimmer to cross the Florida Straits without the security of a shark cage.  

By JENNIFER KAY

MIAMI — Diana Nyad's 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida has generated positive publicity and adoration for the 64-year-old endurance athlete — along with skepticism from some members of the small community of marathon swimmers who are questioning whether she accomplished the feat honestly.

On social media and the online Marathon Swimmers Forum, long-distance swimmers have been debating whether Nyad got a boost from the boat that was accompanying her — either by getting in it or holding onto it — during a particularly speedy stretch of her swim. They also question whether she violated the traditions of her sport — many follow strict guidelines known as the English Channel rules — by using a specialized mask and wetsuit to protect herself from jellyfish.

"When you know how hard it is, you kind of want those details," said Andrew Malinak, a Seattle long-distance swimmer who crunched the data available from the GPS positions tracked on Nyad's website and concluded that he didn't trust what he saw.

Nyad's navigator and one of the swim's official observers told The Associated Press this weekend that Nyad didn't cheat and that she was aided during the rapid part of her swim by a swift current. And neither Nyad nor her team ever said she would follow English Channel rules, developed for swimming the waters between England and France. Those rules outlaw protective wetsuits and contact with a support boat.

According to Nyad's team, she finished the swim Monday afternoon in Key West after roughly 53 hours in the water, becoming the first to do so without a shark cage. It was her fifth try, an endeavor apparently free from the boat troubles, bad weather, illnesses and jellyfish encounters that have bedeviled Nyad and other swimmers in recent years.

Nyad's progress was tracked online via GPS by her team, and some critics say they think information is missing.

Many wonder about a roughly seven-hour stretch when Nyad apparently didn't stop to eat or drink, recalling her 2012 attempt when she got onto the boat for hours during rough weather. Nyad eventually got back into the water to try finishing, but her team was criticized for delaying the release of that information to the public.

Malinak said the hours-long spike in Nyad's speed after 27 hours of swimming is particularly questionable — she went from her normal pace of roughly 1.5 mph to more than 3 mph, then slowed down again as she approached Key West.

Nyad's spokeswomen did not immediately return telephone calls this weekend, but her navigator and Janet Hinkle, one of the official observers for the swim, told the AP that Nyad didn't cheat.

Navigator John Bartlett said the increased speed was due to the fast-moving Gulf Stream working in her favor, nothing more.

"At some points we were doing almost 4 miles an hour," Bartlett said. "That's just the way it works. If the current is in your favor at all, that explains it."

The data collected by Bartlett and two observers will be submitted to three open-water swimming associations and the Guinness World Records for verification, Bartlett said.

An oceanographer not affiliated with Nyad's team said the swimmer couldn't have picked a more perfect current to get from Havana to Key West.

Mitch Roffer of Melbourne-based Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service Inc. said he got an email questioning whether Nyad's swim was a hoax, so he decided to look at the charts for himself. What he saw convinced him that she could do it.

"Many times that current runs west-east and you're constantly fighting the current if you're swimming north. In this case, it was in the shape of an S, and the angle was almost exactly from Havana to Key West," Roffer said.

Janet Hinkle, a Key West boat captain and acquaintance of Nyad's, was called to be an observer for the swim when Steve Munatones, a former U.S. national open-water coach, was unable to make it. "I can say unequivocally she swam every stroke without question," Hinkle said.

Critics have said Hinkle was too close to Nyad to be an independent observer of her swim. Hinkle has in the past helped Nyad by providing housing for her when the swimmer stayed in the Florida Keys, but she said she remained on the periphery of Nyad's team. "I think anyone who knows me knows me as a person of high integrity. I believe that's why Diana asked me, and I took my job very seriously," Hinkle said. "She was giving her all and I would give her my best."

Since none of the various open-water swimming associations dictate how someone should swim from Cuba to Florida — officially accomplished only by Nyad and Susie Maroney, who used a shark cage — Nyad just had to follow generally accepted rules about not getting out of the water or using equipment such as fins.

Australian Chloe McCardel followed English Channel rules in her attempt to swim the Florida Straits in June. She had to be pulled from the water after 11 hours after being stung jellyfish.

"Generally the rules are: You walk in, you swim across and you walk out, and you do it under your own power," said Munatones, who consulted with Nyad for this swim and observed her attempts in 2011 and 2012.

The elaborate, full-body wet suit and protective mask Nyad wore to protect herself from venomous jellyfish actually weighed her down, Munatones said.

"To put that on is like putting on a wedding gown in the ocean," he said. "It's different from the English Channel rules, but the water is different from the English Channel."

To many, it seems Nyad hasn't exactly endeared herself to those in the marathon swimming community. Some consider her primarily concerned with gaining the spotlight instead of helping others advance the sport.

At her post-swim news conference on Tuesday, Nyad admitted that she had not been rooting for McCardel and that she was miffed some members of her team would jump ship to work for a competitor.

McCardel said she was disappointed to hear Nyad call those crew members "traitors."

"One of the greatest things, I believe, about international marathon swimming is how people across the world support crew for and mentor each other. I wouldn't change this aspect of our sport for the world!" McCardel posted on her Facebook page.

Obituaries today: Theodore Samble was shop teacher in West Springfield schools, master finish carpenter

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Obituaries from The Republican.

 
090813-theodore-samble.jpgTheodore Samble 

Theodore Nicholas Samble, 84, of Springfield, died on Friday. He was born in Agawam, and grew up on his uncle's dairy farm in Hampden. He attended Springfield Trade High School, class of 1947. He was first employed at the original Friendly's store in Springfield. He entered the U.S. Air Force in 1951 and was honorably discharged in 1955. Upon returning home, he worked at Howard Lumber in Wilbraham and attended Western New England College at night, where he earned his bachelor of arts degree. He worked for 28 years in the West Springfield Public School System as a shop teacher, retiring after 26 years in 1990. Throughout his years at Howard Lumber and the remainder of his life he was also a master finish carpenter.

Obituaries from The Republican:


Doubts linger over Syria gas attack evidence

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The U.S. government insists it has the intelligence to prove it, but the public has yet to see a single piece of concrete evidence produced by U.S. intelligence connecting the government of President Bashar Assad to the alleged chemical weapons attack last month that killed hundreds of people.

By KIMBERLY DOZIER and ZEINA KARAM

BEIRUT — The U.S. government insists it has the intelligence to prove it, but the public has yet to see a single piece of concrete evidence produced by U.S. intelligence — no satellite imagery, no transcripts of Syrian military communications — connecting the government of President Bashar Assad to the alleged chemical weapons attack last month that killed hundreds of people.

In the absence of such evidence, Damascus and its ally Russia have aggressively pushed another scenario: that rebels carried out the Aug. 21 chemical attack. Neither has produced evidence for that case, either. That's left more questions than answers as the U.S. threatens a possible military strike.

The early morning assault in a rebel-held Damascus suburb known as Ghouta was said to be the deadliest chemical weapons attack in Syria's 2½-year civil war. Survivors' accounts, photographs of many of the dead wrapped peacefully in white sheets and dozens of videos showing victims in spasms and gasping for breath shocked the world and moved President Barack Obama to call for action because the use of chemical weapons crossed the red line he had drawn a year earlier.

Yet one week after Secretary of State John Kerry outlined the case against Assad, Americans — at least those without access to classified reports — haven't seen a shred of his proof.

There is open-source evidence that provides clues about the attack, including videos of fragments from the rockets that analysts believe were likely used. U.S. officials on Saturday released a compilation of videos showing victims, including children, exhibiting what appear to be symptoms of nerve gas poisoning. Some experts think the size of the strike, and the amount of toxic chemicals that appear to have been delivered, make it doubtful that the rebels could have carried it out.

What's missing from the public record is direct proof, rather than circumstantial evidence, tying this to the regime.

The Obama administration, searching for support from a divided Congress and skeptical world leaders, says its own assessment is based mainly on satellite and signals intelligence, including intercepted communications and satellite images indicating that in the three days prior to the attack that the regime was preparing to use poisonous gas.

But multiple requests to view that satellite imagery have been denied, though the administration produced copious amounts of satellite imagery earlier in the war to show the results of the Syrian regime's military onslaught. When asked Friday whether such imagery would be made available showing the Aug. 21 incident, a spokesman referred The Associated Press to a map produced by the White House last week that shows what officials say are the unconfirmed areas that were attacked.

The Obama administration maintains it intercepted communications from a senior Syrian official on the use of chemical weapons, but requests to see that transcript have been denied. So has a request by the AP to see a transcript of communications allegedly ordering Syrian military personnel to prepare for a chemical weapons attack by readying gas masks.

The U.S. administration says its evidence is classified and is only sharing details in closed-door briefings with members of Congress and key allies.

Yet the assessment, also based on accounts by Syrian activists and hundreds of YouTube videos of the attack's aftermath, has confounded many experts who cannot fathom what might have motivated Assad to unleash weapons of mass destruction on his own people — especially while U.N. experts were nearby and at a time when his troops had the upper hand on the ground.

Rebels who accuse Assad of the attack have suggested he had learned of fighters' plans to advance on Damascus, his seat of power, and ordered the gassing to prevent that.

"We can't get our heads around this — why would any commander agree to rocketing a suburb of Damascus with chemical weapons for only a very short-term tactical gain for what is a long-term disaster," said Charles Heyman, a former British military officer who edits The Armed Forces of the U.K., an authoritative bi-annual review of British forces.

Inconsistencies over the death toll and other details related to the attack also have fueled doubts among skeptics.

The Obama administration says 1,429 people died in 12 locations mostly east of the capital, an estimate close to the one put out by the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition. When asked for victims' names, however, the group provided a list of 395. On that list, some of the victims were identified by a first name only or said to be members of a certain family. There was no explanation for the hundreds of missing names.

In Ghouta, Majed Abu Ali, a spokesman for 17 clinics and field hospitals near Damascus, produced the same list, saying the hospitals were unable to identify all the dead.

Casualty estimates by other groups are far lower: The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it only counts victims identified by name, and that its current total stands at 502. It has questioned the U.S. number and urged the Obama administration to release the information its figure is based on. The AP also has repeatedly asked for clarification on those numbers.

The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders says it has not been able to update its initial Aug. 24 estimate of 355 killed because communication with those on the ground around Damascus is difficult. That estimate was based on reports from three hospitals in the area supported by the group.

Moreover, the group, whose initial report was cited in U.S. and British intelligence assessments, has rejected the use of it "as a justification for military action," adding in a disclaimer published on its website that the group does not have the capacity to identify the cause of the neurotoxic symptoms of patients nor the ability to determine responsibility for the attack.

French and Israeli intelligence assessments back the U.S., as does reportedly Germany's spy agency, on its conclusion the Syrian regime was responsible. However, none have backed those claims with publicly presented evidence either.

Some have suggested the possibility, at least in theory, that the attack may have been ordered by a "rogue commander" in Assad's military or fighters seeking to frame the regime.

Hisham Jaber, a retired Lebanese army general who closely follows Syria's war, said it would be "political suicide" for the regime to commit such an act given Obama's warning. He also questioned U.S. assertions that the Syrian rebel fighters could not have launched sophisticated chemical weapons. He said that some among the estimated 70,000 defectors from the Syrian military, many of them now fighting for the opposition, could have been trained to use them.

"It is conceivable that one or more know how to fit a rocket or artillery shell with a chemical agent," said Jaber, who also heads the Beirut-based Middle East Center for Studies and Political Research. He claimed Syrian insurgents have acquired chemical weapons, bought from tribes in Libya after the fall of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, through Saudi interlocutors. Other weapons from Libya have been used in the conflict, though Jaber did not offer evidence to support his chemical weapon claim.

Saudi Arabia has been a chief supporter of the opposition. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, head of Saudi intelligence, recently flew to Moscow, reportedly on a mission to get Russia to drop its support for Assad.

Syrian government officials and Assad accused foreign fighters of carrying out the attacks with the help of countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey in the hopes of prompting an international military intervention.

Syria says some of its own soldiers were badly contaminated in Jobar, on the edge of Damascus, as they went into tunnels cleared by the rebels. U.N. experts, who had been collecting tissue and other samples from victims in Ghouta, also visited the Mazzeh military hospital in Damascus, taking samples from injured soldier there.

Two days after the Ghouta attack, state television broadcast images of plastic jugs, gas masks, medicine vials, explosives and other items that it said were seized from rebel hideouts. One barrel had "made in Saudi Arabia" stamped on it.

In the U.S., the case for military action has evoked comparisons to false data used by the Bush administration about weapons of mass destruction to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Multiple U.S. officials have told AP that the intelligence tying Assad himself to the Aug. 21 attack was "not a slam dunk" — a reference to then-CIA Director George Tenet's insistence in 2002 that U.S. intelligence showed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction — intelligence that turned out to be wrong. They cite the lack of a direct link between Assad and the chemical assault — a question the administration discounts by arguing Assad's responsibility as Syria's commander in chief. A second issue is that U.S. intelligence has lost track of some chemical weaponry, leaving a slim possibility that rebels acquired some of the deadly substances.

Russian President Vladimir Putin — a staunch ally of Assad — said if there is evidence that chemical weapons have been used, specifically by the regular army, it should be submitted to the U.N. Security Council.

"And it ought to be convincing. It shouldn't be based on some rumors and information obtained by intelligence agencies through some kind of eavesdropping, some conversations and things like that," he told The Associated Press in an interview late Tuesday.

David M. Crane, an international law professor at Syracuse University in New York, said the scale of the attack makes it very unlikely that anyone other than the regime was behind it.

"I think it was a calculated risk by the Assad regime to push to see how far he can go while causing a great deal of political disruption," he said. "It's a huge gamble, but he's in a very risky situation."
AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier reported from Washington.


Mattoon Street Arts Festival celebrates 41 years

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The 2013 Mattoon Street Arts Festival featured 105 vendors.


SPRINGFIELD — At first Violet Matos and her mother, Felicita Rivera, spent time crocheting for fun and also to donate to local cancer survivor groups and hospitals.

"My mom is a breast cancer survivor, and we just did these for fun until people started saying we should sell them," Violet Matos said.

The duo runs VSCARFES, a small business selling scarves, mittens, hats and jewelry.
The two were among 105 exhibitors at this year's Mattoon Street Arts Festival.

"We are actually at capacity this year in terms of vendors," said Jason Alves, president of the Mattoon Street Historical Preservation Association. "It was a great year, and I think the vendors have done well."

Betsy Johnson, another member of the association, said the good weather brought many people to the 41st annual festival on both days.

"It's been great to see the variety of products available, and there is definitely something for every price point from tables that sell three-dollar items to tables that sell two-hundred-dollar items," she said.

Steve Hamlin, a watercolor painter based in Huntington, said this is his second year at the festival, and it has been a good experience.

"The neighborhood residents get very involved and are very supportive of the festival," said Hamlin, a painter most of his life and former resident of Springfield.

Besides vendors, there were also local organizations promoting programs and services.

Jose Delgado and Laura Roy were at the festival promoting Buy Springfield Now, a program that works with people looking to buy their first home in the city.

"We try to inform people about the houses available in various neighborhoods throughout the city, and we make an effort to educate them about the benefits of each community," said Delgado, an aide to Mayor Domenic J. Sarno.

He said the two main concerns most people have are schools and public safety, so the group works hard to discuss the various efforts being made to keep city neighborhoods safe.

"A lot of people may not even think of giving Springfield a chance and could be missing out on an opportunity to live in a great neighborhood," he said.

The festival culminated Sunday with crowds of people, live music and lots of shopping.

"The Quadrangle Museums had an antique car show this weekend and they put up our signs. W also put signs up for the Glendi Festival, and they did the same for us, which I'm sure helped," he said. "It was a great weekend to be in Springfield. There was a lot to do."


Musician Bret Michaels endorses Hard Rock International's West Springfield casino plan

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In the video, Michaels says his working relationship with the company has been a positive one, and he encourages residents to give the project a "yes" vote on Tuesday.

WEST SPRINGFIELD - With just a few days until West Springfield voters hit the polls to decide the fate of Hard Rock International's $800 million casino proposal for the city, musician Bret Michaels offered his formal support for the project via a video recorded from his home office.

In the video, Michaels says his working relationship with the company has been a positive one, and he encourages residents to give the project a "yes" vote on Tuesday.

"As a businessman, as a musician, as an entrepreneur, and as a philanthropist the Hard Rock has been an unbelievably great partner and I hope you will seriously consider them for this Hard Rock project," Michaels said. "I've done a lot of things for a lot of years with them, and they've been nothing but fantastic. Their 'love all, serve all' attitude is for real. They are a great partner."

Over the weekend, Hard Rock supporters and opponents were out in full force trying to sway undecided voters in West Springfield to their side of the argument.

On Sunday, Hard Rock officials will continue their public outreach and are holding an event with company Chairman Jim Allen at campaign headquarters starting at 6 p.m. There are also rumors circulating in West Side that another town councilor may be endorsing the project ahead of the vote.

hard rock protest 1.jpg9/7/13 -West Springfield - Anti-casino demonstrators Nancy Misialek and Nathan Bech, president of "No Casino West Springfield Inc," talk about what signs volunteers will hold ahead of a protest on Saturday in front of the busy Riverdale Shops on Riverdale Street. (Staff photo by John Suchocki) 

West Springfield resident Nathan Bech's anti-casino group is also inviting the public to an event on Sunday where notable casino opponents will be discussing their research.

At the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, 214 Elm St., from 7-9 p.m. Sunday, Amherst College graduate Robert Steele, who has written about how casinos have affected the state of Connecticut, will be joined by Robert Goodman, a Hampshire College professor and author of "The Luck Business," as well as Alan Cabot.

Cabot is a West Springfield-based financial planner and resident who will talk about the Hard Rock host community agreement with the city and point out what he's interpreting as loopholes and potential areas of concern for locals.

Springfield voters approved MGM's proposal in July, and Palmer will vote on Mohegan Sun's project on Nov. 5. Residents in West Springfield will vote on the Hard Rock casino on Tuesday. The projects that are approved by their respective host communities will move on to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for further review, before one is ultimately awarded the casino license.


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Parking lot, bridge at Norwottuck Rail Trail in Northampton to close for repairs

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The parking lot at the head of the Nortwottuck Rail Trail will close Sept. 23.

NORTHAMPTON — The state Department of Conservation and Recreation will close the Norwottuck Rail Trail Connecticut River bridge and parking lot on Damon Road beginning Sept. 23 so the bridge can undergo a re-decking.

Paul Jahnige, director of the Greenways and Trails Program, said he expects the bridge to be closed for about six months. The bridge repair project is separate from the Norwottuck Rail Trail repair project, which is currently underway.

The state Accelerated Bridge Program is funding the $1.1 million bridge repair, Jahnige said. Federal and state money is financing the $4 million rail trail repair.

Plans to repair and widen parts of the 11-mile trail from Northampton to Belchertown have been in the works since former U.S. Rep. John W. Olver secured $4.4 million for the project in 2004.

Jahnige said work, which began earlier this summer, is progressing. Crews have been working on the section of the path from Cross Path Road to East Street in Hadley, and he expects that to reopen sometime next month.

The construction crew will then move on to the next section from East Street to South Maple Street (behind Hampshire Mall in Hadley), he said.

“Overall it’s been going quite well,” he said. “It’s pretty early, (but) so far there haven’t been any delays.” The contractor has not faced any weather issues. He said the Greenways and Trails Program hasn’t received any complaints about the repairs closing the trail.

Crews will stop excavation in November, but they might be able to continue with tree work as long as the weather allows, Jahnige said. He said he expects the bike path will be open during the winter for skiing.

Crews are expected to be back at work in April from South Maple Street to Route 116 in Amherst, according to the project schedule.

The state expects the project to be completed by November 2014.



24-year-old woman 'stabbed numerous times' during a fight in Worcester, suspect arrested

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Worcester police have arrested a woman in connection with assault and murder charges after a woman arrived at a local hospital with 'numerous' stab wounds.

Worcester police have arrested a woman in connection with assault and murder charges after a woman arrived at a local hospital with "numerous" stab wounds.

Just after 8 p.m. Friday night, Worcester police received a report of "a loud disturbance outside," on Euclid Avenue. Upon arrival, the officers learned that two women had fought in the street but left the area before the officers reached the location.

Within a half hour, the officers received a report from UMass Memorial Medical Center that a young woman had walked into the emergency woman "suffering from multiple stab wounds," according to the police report.

The 24-year-old woman told police she had "past problems" with the suspect and went to the woman's home on Euclid Avenue to confront her. "The two began to fight in the middle of the street when the victim was stabbed several times in the left arm and shoulder area," the police report states. "Once she realized she was stabbed, the victim fled with a friend and drove directly to the hospital."

Her wounds were non-life threatening though they required several stables to close.

Monday afternoon Worcester police announced they arrested 25-year-old Mallory Shelly during the weekend. Shelley was arrested on the charges of armed assault with the intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Shelly is held on $10,400 cash bail.

Stand-by lawyer in Ryan Welch murder trial allowed to withdraw from case

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Bucci indicated to Josephson that he will seek clarification on a number of issues pertaining to Welch defending himself.

GREENFIELD - The judge in the Ryan Welch murder case allowed stand-by counsel Paul Rudof to withdraw but indicated that she intends to keep the trial on track for its Oct. 21 start.

Appearing before Judge Bertha D. Josephson in Franklin Superior Court on Monday, Welch argued that he has not seen all the evidence in the case and said Rudof has told him the defense investigator will not meet with him. He also told Josephson, who is scheduled to oversee the trial in October, that he intends to pursue criminal charges against prosecutor Jeremy Bucci for some of the allegations he has made about himself in the case.

Josephson said at first that she would not rule on a new motion by Rudof to withdraw as stand-by counsel because she has not had adequate time to study it. Seeing that Welch did not oppose the motion, however, she allowed Rudof to withdraw entirely from the case. The Hampshire Superior Court clerk will consult with the Committee for Public Counsel Services about a replacement for Rudof, a task Josephson said would take at least a week. She said she will scheduled a further status conference when that is done, but will "keep the case on track" for its October start.

Bucci indicated to Josephson that he will seek clarification on a number of issues pertaining to Welch defending himself. He said he will ask that Welch not be allowed to approach any witnesses he questions and that he be prohibited from personally touching any physical evidence. Bucci also said that Welch's stated intention to pursue a defense that the murder was committed by a third party will open the door for the prosecution and prolong the trial, although he did not elaborate.

Judge Daniel Ford named Rudof as stand-by last month when he granted Welch's request that he represent himself at trial. Welch, 37, is charged with murdering his girlfriend, Jessica Pripstein in February of last year in her Easthampton apartment. Police arrived on the scene after receiving a call from Pripstein saying her boyfriend was trying to kill her. They found Pripstein dead, her throat slashed. Welch was discovered in another room with non-fatal wounds.

Welch had previously maintained he was not given adequate opportunity to prepare for his trial and tried to file a number of motions on his own behalf. As a result the trial was postponed from its original June date.

Last month, Rudof filed a motion to withdraw from the case, saying he and his client have irreconcilable differences. Judge Richard Carey denied that motion, but Welch later returned with his own motion to drop Rudof. Ford granted that motion, although he advised Welch against representing himself. Welch told Ford that Rudof was entertaining a defense that relied on his criminal competency, but he wanted to explore the theory that he didn't commit the crime.

"The more I read, the more apparent it becomes to me that I couldn't have killed Jessica Pripstein," he said.

During a colloquoy with Ford, Welch acknowledged that he has no legal experience. He also said he has obsessive compulsive disorder and that sometimes makes it took him up to three hours to shower. Ford told Welch he needs a stand-by counsel and appointed Rudof for that task.

Upcoming Affordable Care Act implementation means changes for Massachusetts Health Connector customers

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Many Massachusetts Health Care Connector customers will have to switch plans after October under the federal Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.

SPRINGFIELD — With more provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act taking force Oct. 1, the Massachusetts Health Connector will have more to offer a greater number of state residents, but only if they take the time to explore an updated Connector when it goes online later this week.

"We are the storefront for health insurance providers," Jean Yang, executive director of the Health Connector, said Monday at a news conference at the Caring Health Center Wellness Clinic, 1145 Main St.

The Health Connector is available at www.mahealthconnector.org.

Yang made a special effort to warn that a number of people who get health insurance through the Health Connector now will not be transferred over to the new Affordable Care Act programs as a batch. They'll have to sign up for a new plan individually. Yang said it's best for folks to double check and make sure they'll be compliant under the new system and that they will keep their coverage.

Of the 250,000 people now getting insurance through the Connector, 100,000 will shift automatically to MassHealth, which pays for health care for certain low- and medium-income people living in Massachusetts. The remaining 150,000 people, generally people with slightly higher incomes, will have to sign up for a new plan once the system switches over Oct. 1.

The new Connector website will be up and running in a few days, Yang said.

"We need people to take affirmative action," she said. "Or otherwise we could lose them."

Caring Health received a $196,000 state grant to do community outreach touting the expanded Health Connector through its Navigator program. Caring Health President and CEO Tania M. Barber said the center already does a lot of Health Connector education within its walls, but workers will soon be getting out into the community at schools and community centers to let people know what's going on.

The state Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority said there are 10 similar facilities in the Navigator program including Ecu-Health Care in North Adams and Hilltown Community Health Centers in Huntington and Worthington.

Much of federal health care reform was based on Massachusetts' model, and Massachusetts residents are used to living with an individual mandate to get insurance, which goes national as the new law – commonly referred to as Obamacare – is implemented.

But the federal law also changes Massachusetts rules. For example, individuals with incomes up to $45,960 a year or a family of four with an income up to $94,200 (up to 400 percent of the poverty level) may be eligible for federal tax credits to help cover the cost of health care insurance. Those cutoffs were lower in the past.

Also, help with out-of-pocket costs like copays and deductibles will be available under the new plan to those making from $34,476 for an individual or $70,656 for a family of four. That is 300 percent of the poverty line.

There are also employee programs for small businesses.

The basic cost of a health care plan for an individual or small business in Massachusetts will increase, on average, by a small amount in the beginning of 2014, according to rates recently approved by the state Division of Insurance.


Attorney General Martha Coakley wins $36 million in subprime loan dispute with Barclays Bank

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The deal with Barclays is the fourth settlement that the attorney general has negotiated with big banks after investigating their practices of purchasing subprime mortgages and converting them into securities that could be sold to investors.

BOSTON - In a move that will help about 25 borrowers in Springfield and several in Chicopee who are beset with subprime mortgages, Attorney General Martha Coakley has won $36.1 million from Barclays Bank to settle her office's investigation into whether it financed unfair mortgage loans.

Martha Coakley mug 9613.jpgMartha M. Coakley 

Barclays, a London bank, financed and purchased the unfair loans and then converted them into securities that could be sold to investors, Coakley said in a prepared statement.

The deal with Barclays is the fourth settlement that Coakley has negotiated with big banks after investigating their "securitization" practices, which were common and contributed to the economic crash of 2008.

“Today’s settlement with Barclays will help keep hundreds of people in their homes and recover more than $25 million in significant relief for borrowers who are still struggling with unsustainable subprime loans," Coakley said.

Brandon Ashcraft, a spokesman for Barclays, said in response, "We are pleased to have resolved this matter."

From the total settlement, $26.1 million will be used for principal reduction and related relief for more than 450 Massachusetts subprime borrowers including 25 in Springfield and three in Chicopee.

In the coming months, the attorney general's office will mail notices to affected borrowers.

Also from the settlement, the state will receive about $7 million; nonprofit groups that are assisting with mortgage relief, about $1 million; and cities and towns severely affected by foreclosures, about $2 million. The attorney general plans a followup release on specific awards to communities.

In the settlement, Coakley alleged that Barclays financed, purchased, and securitized Massachusetts loans that contained certain features that were presumed to be unfair under Massachusetts law including an introductory mortgage rate of three years or less and substantial prepayment penalties beyond the introductory period.

Barclays did not originate subprime loans. Instead, Barclays funded subprime
lenders, purchased loans from subprime lenders, and securitized
loans originated by subprime lenders.

The attorney general alleged that in Massachusetts, subprime mortgage
originators made adjustable rate mortgages with initial rates that reset to considerably
higher interest rates after an introductory period.

When borrowers refinanced their loans before the interest rate reset to a higher rate, they were often charged substantial prepayment penalties, Coakley contended in the settlement.

Barclays neither admitted nor denied the attorney general's allegations.

In similar settlements, Coakley, a possible Democratic candidate for governor next year, won $60 million from The Goldman Sachs Group in May of 2009, $102 million from Morgan Stanley in June of 2010 and $52 million from The Royal Bank of Scotland Group in November of 2011.

3 things to watch for in tonight's Boston mayoral debate

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There's just over two weeks until Boston narrows the Boston mayoral race down to two candidates. Here's what to look for in tonight's debate.

Here are three things you should watch for in tonight's televised Boston mayoral debate:

1. The East Boston Casino

Now that the proposed resort casino at Suffolk Downs in East Boston is one step closer to happening, it looms ever larger over the Boston mayoral race. Though a date for the election has not been set, it appears increasingly likely that it will occur on the same day as the November 5 mayoral election. Whether it is a citywide vote or East Boston-only vote remains to be seen. Mayoral candidate Bill Walczak is the loudest voice in opposition to casino so look for him to try to steal the debate on this issue.

2. Who has stamina?

Believe it or not there are two debates tonight. The first one is at 6:00pm and is focused on the arts. David Bernstein documented the dust-up over this scheduling conflict when it first occurred. "Nobody Puts Joyce Kulhawik In A Corner" was a common response to the scheduling fight. Look for how the candidates handle this because as mayor their schedules will be far more challenging and exhausting than they are now, no matter what their job. Look for candidates that are tired or irritable. Think Richard Nixon in 1960 when he was sweating and miserable-looking in his televised debate with John F. Kennedy.

3. Criticism of Mayor Thomas Menino

In New York candidates have been running as anti-Bloombergs, but in Boston we have not really seen candidates running as hard anti-Meninos. With the mayor's new housing plan out today it will be interesting to see how the candidates react to this proposed plan. An attack or even a serious knock of the mayor could be political suicide for a serious contender if Menino decides to really throw the power of his political machine into the mix. Menino may not weigh in before the preliminary but if he does dive into the general his support could tip the scales just enough to impact the outcome of the election

Watch live at 8 p.m.: Boston mayoral debate

Hard Rock casino supporters, opponents confident ahead of West Springfield referendum vote

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According to campaign finance documents filed with the city, Hard Rock and the pro-casino movement spent nearly $1 million trying to get the project approved while opponents working with the grassroots No Casino West Springfield Inc. spent just over $1,600 of the nearly $2,000 they collected.

WEST SPRINGFIELD -As the residents here prepare to decide whether to approve Hard Rock International's plan to build an $800 million resort casino, both sides are hoping they have convinced enough people to adopt their perspective to score a win on Tuesday.

According to campaign finance documents filed with the city, Hard Rock and the pro-casino movement spent $936,920 trying to get the project approved.

The nearly $1 million Hard Rock spent includes $155,000 in "charitable contributions" with a majority of that cash flowing into the coffers of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts.

Opponents working with the grassroots No Casino West Springfield Inc. spent just $1,765 of the nearly $2,000 they collected, with a majority going toward printed materials and a couple ads with a local newspaper. The group was aided by the anti-casino effort in Springfield, as it lent out its yard signs for their effort.

"We feel we've done everything we can. We had a lot less money to spend than Hard Rock but we've been hearing from a lot of people in the public that are overwhelmingly against a casino here," said Nathan Bech, the president of the organization. "Only time will tell, but I think public opinion is on our side."

In the absence of any independent polling of West Springfield residents in relation to the plan to build a casino on 38 acres owned by the Eastern States Exposition, Hard Rock released internal polling numbers in August which concluded that while nearly 50 percent of the surveyed likely voters were supportive of the project, 41 percent against it. At the time, 9 percent said they were still unsure how they planned to vote.

On Monday, West Springfield Councilor George Kelly offered a last-minute endorsement of the project as did Council President Kathleen Bourque.

Kelly said that while he was initially skeptical of the company and its proposal, he changed his mind after studying the host community agreement.

ae hard rock vote 1.jpgSeptember 9, 2013 - West Springfield - Staff photo by Michael S. Gordon - John Galloway, right, chief marketing officer for Hard Rock International, making get-out-the-vote calls to West Springfield voters Monday on the eve of the special town referendum regarding the placement of a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino New England next to the Eastern States Exposition. Next to him at left in the Hard Rock referendum headquarters on Westfield St. is West Springfield native and Boston resident Kaitlyn O'Brien. 

"I have made a decision to support the project because of the numerous positive benefits including new tax revenues to provide tax relief to homeowners, $35 million in roadway improvements to minimize traffic congestion; better police and fire services; improvements to our educational system; better services for the elderly and recreational facilities for our youth," Kelly said.

Hard Rock officials have said one of the biggest selling points resonating with citizens is the commitment to spend around $35 million on traffic improvements including a new interchange on Route 5 to provide a designated entrance and exit for the casino. Part of the company's traffic mitigation plan is a complete reconstruction of Memorial Avenue, which includes upgrading everything from drainage, lighting and signage to wider lanes, new sidewalks and a bike path.

Hard Rock would also create a new Route 5 interchange to allow a direct second path to the casino site, allowing most visitors to avoid Memorial Avenue entirely. The traffic plan also calls for working with the state to enhance the Memorial Bridge Rotary and the Morgan-Sullivan Bridge to reduce traffic congestion in those areas.

Those points did help sway Kelly's opinion.

"Hard Rock's $35 million in roadway improvements will allow West Springfield for the first time in years to make investment in infrastructure that will alleviate congestion and improve our roads," Kelly said. "I'm on traffic committee and it's terribly frustrating to start each session with a full list of serious traffic problems and not enough money to take care of them. Have you driven down Memorial Avenue lately? It's a mess. There are cobblestone roads that are smoother."

Bourque said she is supporting the project because if MGM Resorts International lands the license for a Springfield casino, she worries that her city may see all the impact with none of the benefits.

"If we are going to be impacted, I believe it would be in the town’s best interest to have the revenues to address those impacts; whether traffic, roads, schools, fire or police. I heard one person speak against the casino saying the epicenter is where you see a negative impact meaning if a casino is in Springfield, West Springfield will not see any impact. I respectfully disagree," she said.

anti casino westside 2.jpg9/9/13 West Springfield - Staff photo by Michael Beswick - Anne Millet (left) and Kate Sady of West Springfield unpack their anti-casino signs at the Route 5 & 20 Rotary Monday afternoon. 

Hard Rock officials, including some of the company's top brass, spent the past few days in West Springfield trying to reach out to voters, encouraging a "yes" vote. Opponents relied mostly on public demonstrations along busy roads, such as the standout on Monday where they gathered at the rotary junction where routes 5 and 20 meet.

Bech, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully against now retired Democratic Congressman John Olver in 2008, said his opposition to the casino is based upon fears that it will negatively impact his city and the people living here. For him, the argument that a Springfield casino could negatively impact West Springfield without the benefits promised by Hard rock for their proposal doesn't fly.

"If a casino goes to Springfield, we get a small increase in traffic. But if it goes here, we get a tremendous increase in traffic," Bech said. "The same is true about crime and other problems, like property values plummeting. A casino is a magnet and crime follows money."

In West Springfield, polls are open until 8 p.m. and a final tally is expected between 9 and 9:30 p.m., according to the clerk's office. Hard Rock officials and their supporters will gather at the Dante Club on Memorial Avenue starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday while the No Casino West Springfield folks and other casino opponents will gather at Hofbrauhaus restaurant on Main Street.

Springfield voters approved MGM's proposal in July, and Palmer will vote on Mohegan Sun's project on Nov. 5. The projects that get approval from their respective host communities will move on to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for further review, before one is ultimately awarded the casino license.


Stick with MassLive.com for the latest election results from West Springfield.
Assistant Online Editor Greg Saulmon contributed to this report.

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Activities of Sonja Farak, former Amherst drug lab chemist, under microscope as 15 people want new trials after her arrest on drug charges

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Sharon Salem was testifying at a Hampden Superior Court evidentiary hearing set by Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder to hear evidence of the scope and timing of Sonja Farak’s alleged criminal conduct.

SPRINGFIELD - Sharon Salem, the evidence officer for the now closed drug testing laboratory in Amherst, testified Monday on Jan. 17 she discovered two drug samples missing from the vault where they belonged.

She told her supervisor the next day and they went to chemist Sonja Farak’s work station, where they first found a bucket containing substances that could be used to decrease the purity of cocaine.

Salem said her reaction was “Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. (That) shouldn’t be here.”

Salem was testifying at a Hampden Superior Court hearing set by Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder to hear evidence of the scope and timing of Farak’s alleged criminal conduct.

In the courtroom were 15 convicted men and women, six of them in handcuffs, who are seeking new trials based on Farak’s alleged acts and how they affected their cases.

Kinder said he also wants to know more about the negative findings in an October 2012 State Police Quality Assurance Audit of the lab.

He wants to know how Farak’s alleged criminal conduct and the audit findings might relate to the testing performed in the 15 cases.

Farak, 35, of Northampton, faces trial early next year in Hampshire Superior Court.

She is charged with four counts of evidence tampering, four counts of larceny of drugs and two count of possession of cocaine.

She was one of two chemists at the laboratory housed at the University of Massachusetts that stores and analyzes substances seized by police as possible drug evidence.

The lab was under the auspices of the state Department of Public Health until July 2012, when it was put under the control of the state police.

Because of the number of cases, Kinder had named defense lawyer Jared Olanoff, who was assisted by lawyer Luke Ryan, to assemble evidence and call witnesses.

In the courtroom also were lawyers for the other men, lawyers sitting in to hear the testimony, and family members of the 15 men and women.

The defense lawyers are seeking to show Farak mishandled drugs dating back far beyond January.

They are also seeking to show lab protocols used before state police took control gave multiple opportunities for tampering by Farak.

Assistant District Attorney Frank Flannery is handling the matter for Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni’s office.

The hearing is separate from the Hampshire Superior Court prosecution of Farak, which is led by state Assistant Attorney General Anne Kaczmarek.

The defense lawyers sought to call Nikki Michele Lee, Farak’s wife, to the stand at the hearing Monday but her lawyer Marissa Elkins successfully blocked that.

Elkins said Lee was asserting marital privilege as well as privilege against self incrimination.

Matt Harper-Nixon, lawyer for Kathleen Carter, said spousal privilege should not apply in this hearing, since it is not a trial of Farak. He said Lee testified in the grand jury proceeding that resulted in Farak’s indictment.

Ryan said the defense lawyers wanted to question Lee on her observations of drug use by Farak, particularly as to when it occurred.

State Police Sgt. Joseph Ballou testified about the investigation into Farak, saying it is still incomplete.

The hearing will continue Oct. 7, in part because of Flannery’s request that he be able to get all newly discovered cases in which Farak’s actions are suspect, such as a Berkshire County case he was told about Friday.

He said his office wants to give “full disclosure” of the relevant information for the hearing.

Flannery said he learned late Friday about a Berkshire County case that could present important information.

He said in a July 2012 case Farak tested a cocaine sample and said it had a high percentage of cocaine.

When it was retested it has just a trace of cocaine, he said.

Salem said Farak’s work output began to slow in July or August of 2012, but said she didn’t know if it was because of increased paperwork after the State Police was in control of the lab.

Farak, who is free on bail awaiting trial, will not be called to the evidentiary hearing.

Ballou testified among items found in Farak’s car were papers with the initials R.P. written on them. He said he felt Farak was practicing writing the initials of the other chemist at the lab, Rebecca Pontes.

Catherine Morrison, who works in quality assurance for the state police forensic services group, said she found a number of procedures at the Amherst lab which needed immediate attention to bring it to accreditation after the state police acquired the lab.

One was that the chain of custody of drugs was not documented fully. Also, some analysts dated and initialed the samples they tested, but some didn’t.

She said when the Amherst lab was closed after Farak’s arrest, the other staff came to the Sudbury facility.

Ballou said a sandwich bag (not an evidence bag) of crack cocaine was found in Farak’s work station.

For the two samples Salem had reported missing, the sliced open evidence bags were found tampered with at Farak’s workstation, Ballou said.

In a tote bag stuffed in a hollowed out spot in her lab cupboard was found more sliced open, empty evidence bags, he said.

'Stay in School' rally aims to boost high school graduation rate in Springfield

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The Springfield public schools initiative is being held in conjunction with the United Way of Pioneer Valley.

SPRINGFIELD - The Springfield public schools, in conjunction with the United Way of Pioneer Valley, held a community rally to support its Stay in School initiative Monday afternoon at Putnam Vocational Academy on State Street.

“Attendance is important,” said School Superintendent Daniel Warwick. “We have improved our graduation rate. But we need to do more.”

Warwick said the improvement in the Springfield public schools graduation rate last year was three times the state average, rising from 52.1 percent to 56.6 percent.

The goal of the Stay in School initiative is to increase the graduation rate to 77.4 percent by the year 2015, Warwick said.

Stay in School is a community initiative of the Springfield public schools designed to increase student attendance in Springfield schools, as research shows that daily attendance leads to high school graduation and offers a pathway to life success.

High school graduates are more likely to avoid negative behaviors, have higher incomes and live longer, healthier lives.

Sue Fothergill of Attendance Works, who is a national expert on improving student attendance in urban school districts, said that students who attend school regularly are more likely to read on grade level and graduate from high school.

“Showing up matters,” she said.

She said that after research school officials in another public school district found that some parents were not sending their young children to school because they were not confident the school staff was trained to manage child asthma problems.

“The staff was trained to have inhalers available and to manage asthma, and attendance improved,” Fothergill said.

Talbert Swan, president of the NAACP in Springfield, said that in 1980, while a student at the old Classical High School in Springfield, he missed 60 days of school when he was suffering from depression after his grandmother died.

He said the school district did not contact his family until they held him back the next school year.

“That would not happen today,” Swan said. He said that today the school district contacts families when a child is absent.

Swan said that more of those who are incarcerated and live beneath the poverty line have a lack of education.

“Showing up every day matters,” Swan said.

Mark Checkwicz, a Springfield resident and a parent, said he has a daughter at Central High School in Springfield who is taking three advanced placement courses and is now looking at colleges that only students who stay in school can go to.

“I have been married for 22 years, and I am a father who stayed with my children’s mother,” Checkwicz said. Fathers who stay with their children’s mother matter, he added.

As part of the Stay in School initiative, the schools in the city will compete for a silver trophy for the school with the most attendance for the year.

Southwick officials cited for violation of Massachusetts' Open Meeting Law

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Last fall, resident Paul E. Cesan, husband of select board member Tracy L. Cesan, filed a complaint with the Office of Attorney General Martha Coakley, as well as a Freedom of Information request, concerning minutes from 12 meetings that were held between Oct. 17, 2010 and Jan. 3. 2012.

SOUTHWICK – The state Attorney General's office has ruled that town officials violated open meeting laws by not approving meeting minutes in a timely manner, but did provide them when requested as required by law.

Paul E. Cesan, husband of selectman Tracy L. Cesan, filed a complaint with Attorney General Martha Coakley office, as well as a federal Freedom of Information Act request, concerning minutes from 12 meetings that were held between Oct. 17, 2010 and Jan. 3. 2012.

Cesan made the request for the minutes on Oct. 23 and said the town did not comply with that demand in a timely manner.

In addition to the Board of Selectmen, Cesan also named in the complaint the town clerk’s office and Chief Administrative Officer Karl J. Stinehart.

At the time, Stinehart said “the town has 10 business working days” to provide a response to the request, which was Nov. 6, 2012, and the attorney general’s office stated in a letter dated Sept. 3 “the board responded to Cesan’s request in a timely manner given that the tenth day following the request was a Saturday and they responded the next Monday.

The state found, however, that the board erred by not approving meeting minutes from Nov. 8 and 15, 2010 until March 18, 2013.

The recent opinion from Assistant Attorney General Hanne Rush, sent to D.M. Moschos, the attorney the town hired to represent Stinehart, and forwarded to Southwick officials, stated that the Board of Selectmen waited too long to approve the minutes.

“With regard to the complainant’s allegation that the board failed to approve the requested meeting minutes in a timely manner, we find that the board violated the Open Meeting Law. ... The board provided draft minutes to the complainant for meetings held two years prior, despite the fact that the board generally meets on a bi-weekly basis.”

“The board has expressed a commitment to improving the process of approving its meeting minutes,” Rush wrote.

In a July 15 letter to Town Counsel Benjamin Coyle, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Sclarsie explained the decision rendered by the state regarding Paul Cesan’s Jan. 18, 2013, complaint that was filed with the Board of Selectmen Feb. 8, 2013.

“In reaching a determination, we reviewed the Jan. 18, 2013, complaint filed with the board; the board’s Feb. 8, 2013 response; and the April 18, 2013, complaint filed with our office. Additionally, we reviewed the minutes of the board’s Nov. 5, 2012, and Nov. 19, 2012; and Nov. 26, 2012 meetings; and the notice for the board’s Jan. 14, 2013, meeting.

Following our review, we find the board violated the Open Meeting Law by failing to approve meeting minutes in a timely manner. However, we find that the Board took the appropriate remedial action in response to the complaint and order no further relief.”

Holyoke mayoral candidate Danny Szostkiewicz: Mayor Alex Morse has made city 'a joke'

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The former mayor tells editors he's the manager needed to maneuver through financial obstacles.

HOLYOKE — Mayoral candidate Danny Szostkiewicz said Monday he entered the race because Mayor Alex Morse has divided the city between "old Holyoke" and "new Holyoke" and made the city "a joke."

"We're a laughingstock," Szostkiewicz, a former two-term mayor here, said in a meeting with The Republican editorial board.

The city needs to be involved in revenue-sharing discussions with nearby communities that might get a casino gambling resort, do more to lobby state and federal officials to help Holyoke and work harder to market the former Lynch School, he said.

"I'm asking people to consider me. This is a serious job," said Szostkiewicz, who was mayor here from 1996 to 1999.

Morse said pride in the city has never been higher. State law requires casino revenue talks between gaming operators, the host community and neighbors, and the city is in such talks, he said. And he said from marketing the high performance computing center to being the city's first Spanish-speaking mayor, he constantly lobbies for Holyoke.

Soon after moving back to Holyoke from Southwick early this year, Szostkiewicz said city councilors, other officials and business owners urged him to run for mayor to mend the "old vs. new" divide.

Morse sends the wrong message by changing positions on big issues like casino gambling and Walmart's plan to open a supercenter on Whiting Farms Road, and for taking credit for previous mayors' accomplishments, he said. Morse said that's wrong and that he credits predecessors.

"We're sort of a joke. ... No one takes the city seriously," Szostkiewicz said.

Holyoke's finances are dangerously tight because the city is nearly at the levy ceiling. That means that under the state's Proposition 2½ regulations, Holyoke will be unable raise new property tax revenue while expenses will continue climbing, he said.

Szostkiewicz said as mayor he balanced the budget with minimal tax increases and no service cuts.

"That's a significant issue," he said.

Szostkiewicz supported casino gambling when he was mayor as a way to spur downtown. Morse refused to consider gaming proposals in Holyoke. Szostkiewicz said Holyoke could miss casino-revenue "spinoff."

"Mayor Morse has not been at the table," Szostkiewicz said, but Morse said later, "We have been at the table."

On the schools, Szostkiewicz said he would work to get Dean Technical High School aligned with producing vocationally trained students who meet local businesses' staffing needs. He also would resume a practice from his term as mayor of making weekly visits to schools to talk to teachers, staff and students, he said.

Five candidates for mayor will compete in the preliminary election Sept. 17 and the top two finishers will square off on Election Day Nov. 5.


This is the first in a series of stories on Holyoke candidates for mayor meeting with The Republican editors.

Pioneer Valley home sales fall on lack of supply; median price climbs 4%

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The total number of homes sold fell 2.1 percent from 514 in August last year to 503 last month.

SPRINGFIELD - Demand outstripped supply in the Pioneer Valley's housing market last month with sales falling and the median price rising 4 percent, according to a news release from the Realtor Association of Pioneer Valley.

The median price of a single-family home rose from $200,000 in August 2012 to $208,000 last month, according to statistics released Monday. The total number of homes sold fell 2.1 percent from 514 in August 2012 to 503 last month.

"There is no inventory, so the number of sales are going down," said Patrick S. Nolan, an owner and broker at five Century 21 offices in Greater Springfield. "I looks like that trend is continuing. The prices are continuing to rise."

The inventory of available property is down 6.2 percent from 3,093 at the end of August 2012 to 2,901 at the end of August 2013. The average days on market is down from 122 days a year ago in August 2012 to 103 days in August 2013.

Aug.2013HomeSales.jpg 

Nolan has heard the same story from his Century 21 counterparts across the country as demand picks up.

"Buyers feel more comfortable, we are just in a better spot," said Nolan, who will serve as president of the Realtor Association in 2014.

Mark Abramson, a past Realtor Association president and realtor with Cohn & Co. in Greenfield, said some buyers are scrambling to take advantage of interest rates before those rates go up even further. According to FreddieMac.com, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.51 percent for the week ending Aug. 29. A year ago in August 2012, that mortgage averaged 3.59 percent.

Abramson said it's already too late for some first-time home buyers who were already having a tough time coping with new, more stringent, underwriting riles from mortgage lenders.

"People are realizing that if they don't jump on a house right now they might not get a chance to buy at these interest rates," Abramson said. "Because interest rates took a jump, it knocked out a number of potential home buyers, particularly first-time home buyers."

Homes priced competitively are getting multiple offers, Abramson said. He said the most interest is in homes that are mid-level houses, meaning places that are a little bigger than a starter home, but not a top-end home. Think in terms of $175,000 to $275,000, he said. Those homes are moving.

In Hampden County, the region's largest housing market, sales are down 3.8 percent from 315 houses in August 2012 to 303 homes last month. The median sales price is up 1.7 percent from $172,100 to $175,000.

In Hampshire County, the median price is up 16.4 percent from $232,000 to $270,000. Sales are up 7.4 percent from 135 to 145 homes.

In Franklin County, the median price is down 4.3 percent from $209,500 to $200,000 and sales are down 14.1 percent from 64 homes in August 2012 to 55 in August 2013.

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