Obituaries from The Republican.

Allison Dwarska 

Allison Page Dwarska, 17, of Springfield, passed away Nov. 27. She was was a senior at Sabis International Charter School, where she was the captain of the softball and cheerleading teams. She also served as the editor in chief of the yearbook staff. She was a cashier at Big Y in East Longmeadow. She was looking forward to attending the University of Alabama in the fall 2014 to study biology and pursue a career as a physician's assistant.

Obituaries from The Republican:

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  Armitage, Thelma M.
  



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  Barbato, Joseph and Rose (In Memoriam)
  



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  Barbato, Joseph P. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Baruffaldi, Peter (In Memoriam)
  



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  Berte, David (In Memoriam)
  



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  Bolduc, Daniel R. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Borchers, William (In Memoriam)
  



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  Bray, Andy
  



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  Cantalini, Mario (In Memoriam)
  



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  Carduff, Martha Savaria (In Memoriam)
  



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  Carlson, Kenneth J. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Clay, William A.
  



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  Colon, Shannon (In Memoriam)
  



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  Coyer, Pearl
  



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  Coyne, Timothy J. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Coyne, Timothy J. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Curry-Rege, Maureen (In Memoriam)
  



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  Darrah, Cynthia A.
  



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  Denney, Michael (In Memoriam)
  



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  Dialessi, Evelyn I. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Duquette, Katherine R.
  



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  Dwarska, Allison P.
  



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  Edwards, Alma L.
  



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  Fratamico, Thomson (In Memoriam)
  



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  Gagne, Mike (In Memoriam)
  



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  Gaudette, Joseph L.
  



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  Goulet, Donald E. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Greenberg, Esther
  



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  Gregoire, Roland T. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Hardrick, Johnnie L.
  



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  Henderson, Agnes "Nan" (In Memoriam)
  



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  Henderson, Iain L. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Hogan, Shirley M. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Jones, Emma (In Memoriam)
  



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  Kargol, Beverly A.
  



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  Kornacki, Kevin (In Memoriam)
  



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  Krasin, Antonette L.
  



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  Lepine, Beatrice (In Memoriam)
  



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  MacDonald, Ruth I.
  



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  Mattson, Helen W. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Mazza, MaryAnn
  



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  Merchant, Robert (In Memoriam)
  



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  Mercolino, Carmino (In Memoriam)
  



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  Miceli, Sheila Ann (In Memoriam)
  



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  Michon Sr., Leo L.
  



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  Mirski, Susan A.
  



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  Monson, Jeannine M. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Pasternak, Frank J. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Payettte, Edward L. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Provost, Florence M. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Raimondi, Emil V. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Robledo, Barbara A. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Satkowski Sr., Peter
  



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  Self, Charles E. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Smith, Herbert Lavalle (In Memoriam)
  



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  Thompson, Peter M.
  



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  Zulkiewicz, Frank "Pop" (In Memoriam)
  

Police are investigating the stabbing of an 18-year-old woman in Great Brook Valley in Worcester.

Police are investigating the stabbing of an 18-year-old woman in Great Brook Valley in Worcester.

"The 18-year-old female victim sustained puncture wounds to the shoulder, hip and upper thigh," said police in a press release Monday.

The wounds were received after the woman got into a physical fight with a 17-year-old Saturday night, according to police. During that fight the 18-year-old was reportedly stabbed by the younger woman in front of several witnesses, police report, and was then driven to the emergency room.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing. Police seeks information through anonymous texts sent to 274637 TIPWPD plus the message or an anonymous message at worcesterma.gov/police. Calls can also be made to the Worcester Police Detective Bureau at (508) 799-8651.

Fire damage was estimated at less than $1,000.

 

SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield Arson & Bomb Squad is probing two set fires that caused minor damage to a Forest Park duplex Monday morning.

Dennis Leger, aide to Commissioner Joseph Conant, said fighters were summoned to 14 Scott St. shortly before 8 a.m.. At the scene, they found carpet burning in the front stairwell between the first and second floor, and a burning window curtain inside a glassed-in porch on the rear of the second floor.

Leger said firefighters called police to the scene because of an argument between neighbors at the property.

Fire damaged was estimated at less than $1,000.

The company's online dictionary sees about 100 million lookups per month.

SPRINGFIELD -- Science.

Merriam-Webster has released its annual list of the year's top ten words -- compiled through an analysis of lookups on the dictionary publisher's website -- and "science" has claimed the Word of the Year title for 2013.

In a company press release, Editor-at-Large Peter Sokolowski offers this explanation for the interest in the word:

"It is a word that is connected to broad cultural dichotomies: observation and intuition, evidence and tradition. A wide variety of discussions centered on science this year, from climate change to educational policy. We saw heated debates about 'phony' science, or whether science held all the answers. It's a topic that has great significance for us. And it fascinates us -- enough so that it saw a 176% increase in lookups this year over last, and stayed a top lookup throughout the year."

Rounding out the top 10 Words of the Year are:

• cognitive
• rapport
• communication
• niche
• ethic
• paradox
• visceral
• integrity
• metaphor

In honor of the announcement, we bring you this video of Thomas Dolby performing his 1982 hit "She Blinded Me with Science" in a duet with astronaut Buzz Aldrin:

Below, the Merriam-Webster's full press release about the list:

SPRINGFIELD, MASS., December 3, 2013 -- Merriam-Webster Inc., America's leading dictionary publisher, has announced its top ten Words of the Year for 2013. This year's list was compiled by analyzing the top lookups in the online dictionary at Merriam-Webster.com and focusing on the words that showed the greatest increase in lookups this year as compared to last year. The results, based on approximately 100 million lookups a month, show that the words that prompted the most increased interest in 2013 were not new words or words used in headlines, but rather they were the words behind the stories in this year's news.

The Word of the Year, with the greatest increase in lookups, may surprise many people: science. "It is a word that is connected to broad cultural dichotomies: observation and intuition, evidence and tradition," says Peter Sokolowski, Editor-at-Large at Merriam-Webster. "A wide variety of discussions centered on science this year, from climate change to educational policy. We saw heated debates about 'phony' science, or whether science held all the answers. It's a topic that has great significance for us. And it fascinates us–enough so that it saw a 176% increase in lookups this year over last, and stayed a top lookup throughout the year."

Another top lookup that saw a significant increase in use was cognitive. The increased awareness regarding concussions in the NFL and NHL, as well as attention paid to traumatic brain injuries sustained by veterans, were big news stories in 2013. "People are not only interested in knowing more about how injuries affect cognitive function, but also how age and other factors affect cognitive function and development," says Sokolowski.

Users weren't solely looking up scientific vocabulary, however. Both rapport and communication saw huge increases in use this year. "Both are tied to an ongoing discussion about the NSA wiretapping program: what constitutes the 'private communications' monitored by the NSA, and does the wiretapping program hurt our rapport with foreign leaders?," says Kory Stamper, an Associate Editor at Merriam-Webster who monitors lookup statistics on Merriam-Webster.com. But the evidence also suggests another reason both words may have spiked. Stamper notes that user comments submitted to Merriam-Webster.com's Seen & Heard feature suggest that job-hunting dictionary users are looking up these words for use in their résumés.

Rounding out the top five lookups of the year is niche, a word many may assume is tied to product marketing or partisan politics. "Not so fast," says Stamper. "The spike in lookups may well be entirely related to the pronunciation of the word. Is it 'NITCH' or 'NEESH' or 'NISH'?" Perhaps spurred on by a popular Web video on common mispronunciations, the lookups of niche were almost 140% higher this year than last. "It's a happy reminder that people do use the dictionary to check spellings and pronunciations of words," Stamper says.

The five Boston stories you need to read this morning.

The MBTA will extend late-night service in 2014
Major bus lines and all subway lines will run until 3 a.m. on weekends beginning in 2014, the Boston Globe, a sponsor of the MBTA extension, reports. The last major attempt to run late night train service, The Night Owl, failed in 2005.

Revere City Council renews support for Suffolk Downs casino
The Revere City Council passed a resolution supporting the newly redesigned Suffolk Downs casino proposal. The resolution is non-binding as the project still needs to pass rezoning, a mere formality as support for the project is overwhelming.

Governor Patrick files suit to block tribal casino on Martha's Vineyard
Governor Deval Patrick has filed a lawsuit1 to stop the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe from building a casino on their land on Martha's Vineyard. The lawsuit focuses on a 1983 settlement that found the tribe lost their right to use the land for tribal gaming.

Suffolk Downs COO Chip Tuttle talks about the project
Chip Tuttle, the chief operating officer of Suffolk Downs, spoke with MassLive on camera after the Revere City Council meeting about the future of the Mohegan Sun project.

Major fire in South Boston on Tuesday morning
A major fire broke out in a vacant building undergoing renovation in the Fort Point section of South Boston.

Vermont State Police reported that a Ripton man who has been missing for more than a week was found dead on Monday.

RIPTON, Vt. — Vermont State Police reported Tuesday that James P. Daignault, a Ripton man who has been missing for more than a week, was found dead on Monday.

View full sizeJames Daignault 

Around 9:20 p.m. Monday, troopers were called to investigate a car that was spotted sitting in a river at the intersection of Vermont Route 125 and Steam Mill Road in Ripton.

Upon arrival, police determined that the maroon 2001 Plymouth Neon which apparently went over an embankment to land in the water was that of Daignault, whose body was found inside the totaled car.

Daignault was last seen on Nov. 23 when he was dropped off by friends after carpooling to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, a local pantry that aims to alleviate hunger in the greater Burlington, Vt., community, to get a Thanksgiving turkey. Friends reported that he was dropped off at his car, which was parked at the Middlesex park and ride around 2:30 p.m.

Daignault was reported missing on Monday when no one heard from him since seeing him at the park and ride.

Police say Daignault was wearing a seat belt inside the car, and the death remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the Vermont State Police New Haven barracks at (802) 388-4919.

The governor announced Monday that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will run all subway trains and the 15 most popular bus routes until 3 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The one-year pilot program will begin in March or April. If it is successful, it will be extended.

BOSTON (AP) - Late night service is returning to the MBTA.

The governor announced Monday that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will run all subway trains and the 15 most popular bus routes until 3 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The one-year pilot program will begin in March or April. If it is successful, it will be extended.

Gov. Deval Patrick tells The Boston Globe the service will be financed with $20 million in state money as well as corporate sponsorships.

The T currently ends service at 1 a.m., much to the chagrin of people who point out that bars and restaurants close at 2 a.m.

Workers in the state's tech industry also say they tend to work unconventional hours.

A previous effort to provide late night bus service failed due to low ridership.

___

Information from: The Boston Globe

Police seized 19 bags of cocaine with a total street value of approximately $680.

Republican file photo 

CHICOPEE -- Narcotics detectives raided a Springfield Street apartment Monday night and arrested a city man and a teenager on cocaine charges.

Police executed a search warrant for 84 Springfield St., Apt. 3 at about 6:45 p.m., according to department records.

Officers seized 19 bags of powder cocaine and packing materials, Capt. Daniel Sullivan said. Each bag has a street value of approximately $40, Sullivan said, making for approximately $680 worth of the drug.

Miguel Antionio Reyes, 17, of that address, was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, violation of a drug-free zone and possession of cocaine.

Antonio Luis Lucret, 45, of 46 Erline St., second floor, was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and violation of a drug-free zone.

Sullivan said the property is within 300 feet of the Assumption Church, which is used regularly by Holyoke Catholic High School students.

Cintron was arrested by members of the Violent Fugitive Apprehension Squad.

Republican fille photo 

CHICOPEE -- A 24-year-old Holyoke man, wanted on drug and firearm charges, was arrested by state police on Percy Street Tuesday morning.

Members of the Violent Fugitive Apprehension Squad arrested Lazaro Cintron at 18 Percy St. shortly before 8:20 a.m., said Trooper Nicole Morrell, a state police spokeswoman.

The warrants for Clinton’s arrest, issued by Holyoke and Springfield district courts, included three counts of possession of a firearm without a license, possession of a Class A drug, and possession of a Class B drug.

EASTHAMPTON – Tickets are still available for a celebration of Mayor Michael A. Tautznik’s years of service to the city to be held on Dec. 12 at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke. The event will run from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 and available from the Easthampton city clerk's and mayor’s offices. Eva...

EASTHAMPTON – Tickets are still available for a celebration of Mayor Michael A. Tautznik’s years of service to the city to be held on Dec. 12 at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke.

The event will run from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Tickets are $30 and available from the Easthampton city clerk's and mayor’s offices.

Eva Cappelli & the Watershops Band will perform. There will be food and a cash bar.

Tautznik has been the city’s only mayor, elected in 1996. He did not seek reelection.

Linda Hines, a 57-year-old Springfield resident, was found safe at an undisclosed location in the area this morning, according to her daughter Amanda Hines.

SPRINGFIELD — One local family got a happy ending to their nightmare when a missing Springfield woman was found safe Tuesday morning.

View full sizeLinda Hines 

Linda Hines, a 57-year-old Springfield resident, was found safe at an undisclosed location in the area this morning, according to her daughter Amanda Hines.

"She is doing alright but we're just trying to protect her privacy," Amanda Hines said Tuesday. "But the support from the community meant the world to us. We appreciate all the attention and well wishes."

Hines was last seen on Friday, a day after the Thanksgiving holiday. On Monday, Springfield police asked the public for help locating her.

Unlike the Hines family, another New England family is mourning after a missing loved one was found dead. Vermont State Police reported Tuesday that the body of James P. Daignault, a Ripton man who has been missing for more than a week, was found inside his car.

The Plymouth Neon was spotted late Monday sitting in a river at the intersection of Vermont Route 125 and Steam Mill Road in Ripton. Police say Daignault was wearing a seat belt inside the car, and the death remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the New Haven office of the Vermont State Police at (802) 388-4919.

The appearance at the New Hampshire Republican State Committee holiday reception will likely continue to stoke speculation about whether Scott Brown plans to run for office in the Granite State.

Former Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott Brown will headline a Republican State Committee holiday reception this month – for the New Hampshire Republican Party.

According to the New Hampshire GOP, Brown will speak at the $50-a-head Dec. 19 reception. Brown’s political action committee also recently donated $10,000 to the New Hampshire Republican Party.

"Senator Brown is an outstanding leader and a strong voice for fiscally responsible policies," NHGOP Chairman Jennifer Horn said in a statement. "He has been a tremendous supporter of our party and we are grateful that he continues to help us raise the resources we need to win in 2014."

The appearance likely will continue to stoke speculation about whether Brown plans to run for office in the Granite State. Brown has been flirting with the idea for months, appearing at numerous events in New Hampshire but not organizing an actual campaign there. He has never ruled out running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, who is up for re-election in 2014.

But the Republican field for that seat is getting more crowded. Over the weekend, former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith, a Republican who has been living in Florida, announced his intentions to reestablish his residence in New Hampshire and run for his old seat. Former State Sen. Jim Rubens and conservative activist Karen Testerman are also running.

Brown, who has a house in New Hampshire, recently put his Massachusetts home on the market, although it has not yet sold, according to the real estate website Zillow. He also dropped the “MA” from his “ScottBrownMA” Twitter handle.

Brown won the Massachusetts Senate seat in a 2010 special election, but lost the seat to Democrat Elizabeth Warren in 2012. New Hampshire is generally considered a swing state, which has elected both Democrats and Republicans to higher office. Massachusetts is heavily Democratic.

 

After much deliberation about whether they should vote on the Mohegan Sun casino proposal for the Revere side of the Suffolk Downs racetrack, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission did not make a decision on the plan, vowing to come back next week with a ruling.

SOUTH BOSTON — After much deliberation about whether they should vote on the Mohegan Sun casino proposal for the Revere side of the Suffolk Downs racetrack, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission did not make a decision on the plan, vowing to come back next week with a ruling.

The proposal faced heavy scrutiny from commissioners because the application contained significant changes from the one submitted by Suffolk Downs at the beginning of the process. The new agreement makes Suffolk Downs the landlord and Mohegan Sun a tenant. Both will be operating, technically, as stand-alone entities. The original proposal called for a joint project at the Suffolk Downs racetrack primarily in East Boston, not Revere.

The original application for a gaming license on Suffolk Downs property was by Suffolk Downs itself not Caesars Entertainment, the casino operator Suffolk Downs planned to bring in. This time Mohegan Sun is the sole applicant for a resort casino license. This not something that was included in the wording that voters in Revere approved and East Boston rejected.

"I am troubled by the dramatic change in the content of the agreement, from the agreement that was before the voters when they voted," said Commissioner John McHugh inside room 151 at the Boston Convention Center.

McHugh spoke highly of the proposed project in Revere but continued to express concern about allowing the process for awarding Suffolk Downs a gaming license to go forward at all.

Commissioner Gayle Cameron noted that the only one person from Revere contacted the commission in opposition to the project because of the post-vote change. She called this a sign of support, not opposition, to the proposed changes. Commission Chair Stephen Crosby agreed.

"I am flabergasted that we haven't heard from anybody," said Crosby.

Opponents of the proposed project did not speak before the commission at the hearing on Tuesday.

"There's nothing fair about this any way you cut it. Somebody is going to feel like the outcome isn't fair here," said Crosby.

The move of the project from the East Boston side of Suffolk Downs to the Revere side is not the only hurdle the casino faces. Mohegan Sun was vetted by the commission as a potential operator in Palmer not Revere. Supporters of the Palmer casino in attendance today were miffed by what they feel was a strategic maneuver by Mohegan Sun to block a casino from their region in order to protect their establishment nearby in Connecticut.

"They sold Palmer, the gaming commission, a bill of goods so they could be found suitable so they could actually come out to Boston where they want to be and bypass western Massachusetts," said Robert Young, spokesman for Palmer Businesses for a Palmer Casino.

Another hurdle Suffolk Downs is facing is the divide between the racing operation and the casino operation now that the two entities are split operationally as well as financially on paper. "Our commitment to racing remains. With Mohegan Sun as the applicant that doesn't change our commitment to racing. We've been working hard, we've invested millions and millions of dollars in racing over the last six years and if there is gaming development on the property we're going to continue to invest in racing," said Chip Tuttle, COO of Suffolk Downs.

Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun have only provided renderings of the proposed project in Revere. Mitchell Etess of Mohegan Sun said that more specific details like gaming space, hotel rooms, and more will be released in the coming weeks. "We're encouraged today by what happened and we're going to keep the pedal to metal and keep going," said Etess.

Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo echoed the optimism expressed by Etess and Tuttle. "I am very hopeful that the commission will rule to allow us to go forward and get into the phase 2 application process," said Rizzo.

Onyango Obama was ordered deported in 1992, but remained in the country. He was arrested for drunk driving in 2011.

BOSTON — President Barack Obama’s uncle Onyango Obama is scheduled to face a deportation hearing on Tuesday in Boston.

According to a court docket, the case will be heard by Immigration Judge Leonard Shapiro on Tuesday afternoon in Boston Immigration Court at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building.

Onyango Obama is the president’s father’s half brother.

A judge issued a deportation order against Onyango Obama, who is from Kenya, in 1992. But Obama never left the country. The Boston Globe reported that Obama was working as a liquor store manager when the Framingham Police arrested him for drunk driving in August 2011. He was sentenced to probation in that case, and the charges brought renewed attention to his immigration status.

The Globe reported that Obama has been living in the United States since 1963, when he came to enroll in school here as a 17-year-old. He was first ordered deported in 1986, although appeals continued in that case for six years.

Obama’s sister Zeituni Onyango, who is the president’s father’s half-sister, also stayed in the country illegally, after coming to the United States from Kenya in 2000. The U.S. immigration court in Boston granted her asylum in 2010.

President Obama has been a strong proponent of immigration reform. In June, he announced that his administration would stop deportations of young people who came to the country illegally as children but attended college or served in the military. That policy would have no bearing on the cases involving his relatives, since it only applies to people younger than 30.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Lori Bartolucci 

Lori Anne Bartolucci, 53, died on Friday. Born in Springfield, she lived in Hampden most of her life. She was a graduate of Minnechaug Regional High School and attended Bay Path College. She worked as a loan officer for Freedom Credit Union in Springfield.

Obituaries from The Republican:

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  Adams, Shirley Marie
  



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  Albano, Joseph
  



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  Alicea, Virgilio Rivera
  



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  Barbato, Joseph and Rose (In Memoriam)
  



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  Barbato, Joseph P. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Baron, Frances S. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Bartolucci, Lori A.
  



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  Baruffaldi, Peter (In Memoriam)
  



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  Berte, David (In Memoriam)
  



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  Bolduc, Daniel R. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Borchers, William (In Memoriam)
  



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  Bray, Andy
  



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  Cantalini, Mario (In Memoriam)
  



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  Carduff, Martha Savaria (In Memoriam)
  



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  Carlson, Kenneth J. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Colon, Shannon (In Memoriam)
  



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  Curry-Rege, Maureen (In Memoriam)
  



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  Denney, Michael (In Memoriam)
  



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  Dialessi, Evelyn I. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Doyle, Francis
  



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  Duquette, Katherine R.
  



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  Fratamico, Thomson (In Memoriam)
  



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  Gagne, Mike (In Memoriam)
  



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  Gaudette, Joseph L.
  



• 
  Golfieri, Joseph F.
  



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  Henderson, Agnes "Nan" (In Memoriam)
  



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  Henderson, Iain L. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Hogan, Shirley M. (In Memoriam)
  



• 
  Johnson, Janice L.
  



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  Jones, Emma (In Memoriam)
  



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  Kingsley, Beverly F.
  



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  Kornacki, Kevin (In Memoriam)
  



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  Kulina Jr., Walter S.
  



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  Kusek, Kazimierz S.
  



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  LaFlamme, Lester (In Memoriam)
  



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  Lepine, Beatrice (In Memoriam)
  



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  Marcinkiewicz, Todd D.
  



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  Mattson, Helen W. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Mercolino, Carmino (In Memoriam)
  



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  Miceli, Sheila Ann (In Memoriam)
  



• 
  Miller, Richard J.
  



• 
  Moran, Max S.
  



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  Pasternak, Frank J. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Pelletier, Gisele
  



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  Platanitis, Athanasia
  



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  Robledo, Barbara A. (In Memoriam)
  



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  Santos, Julieta D. (In Memoriam)
  



• 
  Sawa, Stella M. (In Memoriam)
  



• 
  Self, Charles E. (In Memoriam)
  



• 
  Zulkiewicz, Frank "Pop" (In Memoriam)
  

The man was found just after noon Monday.

GREENFIELD -- Investigators have not yet released the identity or cause of death of a man found in the Fall River Monday.

Greenfield police received a call shortly after noon from Northern Construction, which is repairing the Factory Hollow bridge on Route 2, saying that a worker spotted a body in the river below.

According to Greenfield police Det. Lt. Dan McCarthy, the deceased is a heavy-set white man wearing a green hooded coat, what appeared to be thermal underwear, and a single boot. The state Medical Examiner’s office removed the body from the scene, McCarthy said.

The office of the Northwestern District Attorney confirmed the time and place of the discovery, but did not identify the body or provide information about the man's cause of death.

McCarthy said that section of the river is a favorite spot for fishing. The homeless occasionally set up encampments on the Greenfield side of the river nearby, he said.

Fall River is a mostly shallow tributary of the Connecticut River that runs into the bigger river below the Turners Falls dam. Because it divides Greenfield and Gill, police from both communities responded to the incident.

 

Annual holiday festivities take place in Amherst and Easthampton Friday night.

AMHERST – Just over a week after their appearance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band will perform once again at the annual Merry Maple tree lighting festivities on the Town Common.

In Easthampton, the annual holiday stroll and appearance by Santa is also Friday night.

The Amherst event begins at 4 p.m. but the band will be marching from UMass and arriving downtown at 5:30 p.m.

Before that, Muddy Brook Farm will be transporting people on hayrides about the downtown. A craft room will be set up in the Town Room at Town Hall at 4:30 p.m. and the Amherst Regional Middle School Chorus will perform at 4:30 p.m. on the steps of Town Hall, followed by a 4:45 p.m. tree lighting ceremony.

The band will lead a sing-along and at 6:30, the action moves to the Amherst History Museum where Santa will alight. Cider, donuts and water will be available at the museum.

The Amherst Survival Center will be collecting new and unwrapped toys, clothing, sporting equipment, books and games.

In Easthampton, people should begin lining up at Maple Street School at 6:45 and then begin the holiday stroll at 7.

Revelers will meander down Cottage Street accompanied by Brianna Weltlich, who was recently selected as the 2014 Distinguished Young Woman of Greater Easthampton, and then move along to Union and Main streets, then to Pulaski Park to wait for Santa who will light up the trees after his arrival on a fire truck.

Hot chocolate and cookies for children will be provided. Hundreds typically turn out for the festivities.

Springfield resident Joseph Napolitan, the president of Joseph Napolitan Associates Inc., has died.

SPRINGFIELD — The man who is credited with helping give birth to the modern industry of political consulting has passed away.

According to friends of the family, Springfield resident Joseph Napolitan, the president of Joseph Napolitan Associates Inc., has died. Napolitan was a Springfield native who from the City of Firsts helped lead politicians across the country and the world to victory in dozens of elections.

Napolitan, who had been ailing for some time, helped lead Massachusetts native John F. Kenendy's 1960 presidential campaign to victory. Napolitan also worked on the 1968 campaign for Hubert Humphrey and others.

"Joseph Napolitan was arguably the man who invented the modern political consultant," said Springfield-based political strategist Anthony Cignoli. "From JFK to Boris Yeltsin, Hubert Humphrey to Howard Dean, icons and legends in politics looked to him for advice. It is amazing he had that global reach from here in Springfield."

Among his other accomplishments, Napolitan is credited with helping start the American Association of Political Consultants and the International Association of Political Consultants.

The school superintendent raised concerns about losing the full-day security of police officers stationed at the high schools.

HOLYOKE -- The city will continue to station a police officer at each of the two high schools for the full school day, Mayor Alex B. Morse said.

A plan to save money by providing as-needed responses and periodic checks instead of an officer at each school full time has been scrapped, Morse told the School Committee Monday.

He spoke with Superintendent Sergio Paez, who expressed concerns about losing the police presence at Holyoke High School and Dean Technical High School, and Police James M. Neiswanger, Morse said after the meeting.

"The Police Department can afford it. It was a recommendation of the chief and given Paez concerns I directed the chief to stay the course," Morse said in a text message.

Morse, as mayor, is chairman of the School Committee.

Neiswanger was responding to a directive Morse said he gave all department heads to submit plans to restrict spending.

Stationing an officer daily at both facilities for the school year costs $135,358, which comes from the Police Department budget. The plan that was set to begin Dec. 2 was for the two officers permanently stationed at the high schools to return to the regular rotating patrol schedule to reduce overtime spending when other officers take time off or are out sick. That was according to a memo sent from Neiswanger to Morse last week.

The department has two other officers trained for such school work, known as school resource officers. That means four school resource officers would be available on day shifts for school calls, along with other officers and Capt. Manuel Febo, who is liaison between the Police and School departments, Neiswanger's memo said.

Paez raised the issue during the committee meeting under superintendent's communications. His desire was to keep the police officers at the high schools, said Paez, who noted that was his understanding of how security would be handled when he began as superintendent July 1.

"How did you come up with this decision, whose call was it?" Ward 3 committee member Dennis W. Birks Jr. asked Morse.

Morse mentioned his directive to department heads, but said if Paez wanted police to stay stationed at the high schools, the city could manage that.

At some point in the discussion the plan to change police coverage at the high schools was referred to as a pilot program that would run through the end of the current school year, which ends in June.

"So the pilot's not going to happen?" Birks said.

"Pilot's not going to happen," Morse said.

To reiterate, Ward 4 committee member Cesar Lopez asked Paez if police officers would be posted at the high schools as usual the next day and Paez said yes.

The surprisingly strong Championship run by the Boston Red Sox contributed to a three percent increase in overall MBTA ridership in October compared to last year.

BOSTON — The surprisingly strong playoff run by the Boston Red Sox contributed to a three percent increase in overall MBTA ridership in October compared to last year. In total, users took 36.228 million rides on the MBTA's buses and subways during the month.

However, the Red Sox were not the only reason for the increase. Average daily ridership numbers were up as well. Rides were up 4.3 percent from October of last year, with 1.382 million daily rides. The daily number indicates that the spike in total rides wasn't cause by a single event, but is more likely to have been spread out across the month.

The increases led to the highest daily ridership numbers since 1964, the year the original MTA morphed into the MBTA to help salvage regional railroads in Massachusetts.

"The Sox weren't the only Boston institution to have a terrific fall," said MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott in a statement. "Our October numbers represent the highest monthly ridership recorded since the beginning of the MBTA."

View the numbers for yourself going back to January 2011 below:

The sheet is available here.