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2 Springfield residents charged with extortion by threat of injury following Springfield, Revere police investigations

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Jose Carasquillo and Jennifer Rodriguez, both of Springfield, were arrested following investigations by Springfield and Revere police into similar extortion cases.

SPRINGFIELD — Two Springfield residents were arrested Thursday by Springfield police and charged with extortion by threat of injury.

Police Sgt. John Delaney said Jose Carasquillo, 32, and Jennifer Rodriguez, 30, both of 25 Huntington St., were arrested without incident inside their apartment on Thursday. The two were charged on a warrant from Chelsea District Court.

Delaney said that for the past year the Springfield area has been plagued with victims of attempted extortion. He said that victims, mostly in the Hispanic community, have been targeted by individuals who would call their cell phones stating that their son, husband or father was just kidnapped. The suspects would tell the victim their loved one would be released if the victim wired money through Western Union to a false name.

Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William Fitchet, said some victims would come to the Springfield Police Department, crying and hysterical because they were convinced their relative had been kidnapped. Some victims actually wired the money, he said.

Delaney said the Springfield Police Department cooperated with the Revere Police Department, which also conducted an investigation regarding the same type of extortion. The result of the investigations was the arrests of Carrisquillo and Rodriguez, he said.

Delaney warned of similar extortion schemes. “If anyone gets a call from an unknown individual stating that a loved one was just kidnapped, they should call the local police department right away,” he said. “Do not send any money to anyone through Western Union.”



Texts exhibited in Cara Rintala murder trial show victim's range of emotions

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Earlier in the day, Tina Gryszowka, a DNA analyst with the state police crime lab, said blood found on the bottom step of the basement stairs in the women’s home was consistent with Cochrane Rintala’s.

NORTHAMPTON – A series of texts from Annamarie Cochrane Rintala to her wife Cara Rintala revealed a woman who was alternately bitter, amorous and obsessive in the days before she was strangled.

Prosecutors said Cara Rintala, 47, killed her wife in their Granby home on March 29, 2010, ending an acrimonious marriage in which both women had filed for divorce and the defendant claimed to feel bullied. Rintala was originally tried for first degree murder in March, but it ended in a hung jury, necessitating a retrial.

On Friday, David Swan, a digital evidence examiner formerly with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, went through a long list of calls and texts between the wives and some other parties that he recovered from their cell phones. The majority of them came from Cochrane Rintala, who was upset when a male colleague dropped by to have a few beers with Cara. Both women worked as paramedics.

“It’s clear how you feel about me,” she texted Rintala after Michael Cyranowski’s visit. “I don’t like feeling this way. You are my wife.”

Over the next few hours, Cochrane Rintala called and texted her wife multiple times, at one point writing, “I hate the relationship we have.”

The defendant responded that the visit was innocent and wrote, “You are over the top crazy.”

The next morning, Cochrane Rintala focused most of her cell phone activity on Mark Oleksak, a colleague with whom she was having a flirtation. Asking Oleksak to work for her on Saturday, Cochrane Rintala texted, “I will get there with a coffee and a big kiss for your Easter prize.”

Oleksak responded, “It’s going to be a big kiss, because I love you.”

The tension between the two wives contrasted with the tone of texts they shared only weeks earlier that were introduced by defense lawyer David Hoose.

“I love you,” the victim texted Rintala on March 17. “It was nice to lay in your arms and a good idea with the hot tub.” In another text, Cochrane Rintala asks if Rintala is naked and writes, “If I wasn’t already spending my life with you, I’d ask you out.”

Earlier in the day, Tina Gryszowka, a DNA analyst with the state police crime lab, said blood found on the bottom step of the basement stairs in the women’s home was consistent with Cochrane Rintala’s. She also said blood swipes on the wall of the stairwell and blood spatter on the cellar floor had the victim’s DNA.

The defendant’s DNA was matched to samples taken from blood stains on a shower curtain liner and a white laundry basket. Prosecutors say surveillance video shows the basket in the back of Rintala’s pickup truck on the afternoon of the killing, although it was found by police in the rear of the victim’s car.

Body part pulled from Charles River may be tied to November death

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A body part pulled from the Charles River Friday afternoon by a Massachusetts State Police dive team may be connected to the November 2013 death of Dennis R. Jackson, 24, of Haverhill.

BOSTON — Officials are saying a body part pulled from the Charles River Friday afternoon by a Massachusetts State Police dive team may be connected to a mysterious November death.

The remains of Dennis R. Jackson, 24, of Haverhill were found burning in Hyde Park and Bridgewater on November 14, 2013. Jackson's head was never found.

Essex District Attorney press secretary Carrie Kimball Monahan declined to say whether the body part pulled from the river was indeed a head. "The medical examiner will examine the part to make an identification," said Monahan.

Reggie Cummings, a rapper on the North Shore and recent resident of Salisbury, is considered a person of interest in the case. Cummings was arrested on November 21 along the USA-Mexico border in California. Cummings had not been charged in Jackson's death.

Shoppers fret about authenticity of Target emails

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An email sent to the roughly 70 million Target customers who may have been affected by a pre-Christmas data breach is causing panic among those who fear it could be an attempt to victimize them again.

NEW YORK (AP) — An email sent to the roughly 70 million Target customers who may have been affected by a pre-Christmas data breach is causing panic among those who fear it could be an attempt to victimize them again.

Target says the email, which offers free credit monitoring services to potential victims of the breach, is legitimate. But the company has identified a handful of scammers who are trying to take advantage of the public's fear and confusion.

Shawn Blakeman, 42, of Raleigh, N.C., received Target's email Friday morning, but he didn't click on the link it contained "just in case it was some kind of a website that I couldn't get out of or had a hidden virus," he says.

Consumers have been on edge since news of the data breach broke last month. And they've been warned to be on alert for possible follow-up attacks that could come in the form of phishing emails, electronic messages designed to implant malicious software on their computers or draw them to websites that prompt them to enter personal information.

So when Target's email began circulating earlier this week, many recipients questioned its authenticity. The email was especially suspicious to people who say they haven't set foot in a Target store in years.

Jim Reid, 60, of Minneapolis says he was a little nervous about clicking on the link in the email and he questioned whether it was a good idea to send Target even more personal information when they were unable to protect it in the first place.

"There's too much uncertainty," Reid says. "They keep changing what they're saying about how many people were affected, about what kinds of information were stolen. It's obvious that they really don't know."

According to Target, hackers stole data related to 40 million credit and debit card accounts and also pilfered personal information, including email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses and names of as many as 70 million customers.

Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder says it's those 70 million people that Target contacted by email. And while Target believes the theft of the roughly 40 million debit and credit card numbers only affected cards swiped between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, the 70 million people whose personal information was stolen could have last shopped at a Target store months, or even years, ago.

Meanwhile, consumers are right to be wary of emails purportedly sent by Target. Snyder says that in recent weeks the retailer has stopped more than a dozen operations that sought to scam breach victims by way of email, phone calls, and text messages.

Target says all of the letters it's sending to shoppers are posted on the company's website, along with information about what customers need to do to sign up for Target's free credit monitoring.

Snyder confirmed that the information gathered for the free service won't be used for marketing purposes. While shoppers are being offered the option of continuing the monitoring service after a year, they won't be automatically re-enrolled in the service or receive a bill.

The retail giant wasn't the only company to get hit with a data breach over the holidays. Last week, Neiman Marcus said thieves stole some of its customers' payment information and made unauthorized charges over the holidays. The Dallas-based luxury retailer is also offering its customers free credit monitoring for a year and plans to post sign-up instructions on its website by the end of next week.

Target's credit monitoring is being provided by Experian. Company officials wouldn't disclose details about how many Target customers have signed up for the free services.

Shawn Blakeman says he was immediately skeptical when he saw the email from Target. He says he didn't click on the link just in case in contained a virus or sent him to a destructive website.

Blakeman says that after the news broke a few weeks ago, his bank automatically sent him a new debit card, so he's not worried about his bank account. And while he remains concerned about identity theft, he probably won't sign up for Target's free credit monitoring.

"I know there's always a chance it could happen to me," he says. "I can't win the Powerball, but watch me get hit with identity theft."

Martha Coakley backs in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts at Democrats' gubernatorial debate

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With the Democratic caucuses beginning later this month and the 5 Democratic candidates for Massachusetts governor – Joe Avellone, Don Berwick, Martha Coakley, Steve Grossman and Juliette Kayyem – trying to round up support before the party's June 14 convention, the candidates took the stage in Lexington, pitching their records and initiatives they would undertake if elected.

By ANDY METZGER

LEXINGTON — Attorney General Martha Coakley said if elected governor, she would sign legislation allowing in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts, a reversal from her stance in 2010.

“If and when that legislation ends up on my desk as Governor Coakley, I would sign it,” said Coakley.

With the Democratic caucuses beginning later this month and the five Democratic candidates for governor trying to round up support before the party’s June 14 convention, the candidates took the stage in Lexington Thursday evening, pitching their records and initiatives they would undertake if elected.

“I would not rule out seeking additional revenue,” said Treasurer Steven Grossman, who said new revenue would need to be coupled with tax reforms to ease the pressure on people in the middle and lower income brackets.

Joe Avellone, a health care executive who pitched revenue-neutral investments, said Thursday he would support a new market tax credit, which he later described as a $500 million tax credit that would be available to community development corporations for financing businesses.

Juliette Kayyem, a former homeland security advisor to President Barack Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick, referenced her recent disclosure on Boston Herald radio that she had smoked marijuana as a youth.

“I did disclose to a radio station that I had smoked marijuana when I was a teenager. I also disclosed it to the FBI, and look what happened to me,” said Kayyem, who also worked in the Justice Department’s civil rights division under Patrick. She also said her parents were “harsh on me” about it, and said she would not have disclosed her marijuana use if she hadn’t been asked about it on Boston Herald Radio. She said after the debate that the message of her experience is, “Don’t give up on people.”

Kayyem, who has said taxpayer dollars could be spent on other programs by reducing the prison population, said, “We have to just envision a state that doesn’t throw people away.”

Don Berwick, Obama’s former acting chief of Medicare and Medicaid, staked out ground for himself in his support of repealing the 2011 casino law, and his support of single-payer health care – which he has said he would reserve as an option if the current health care system does not improve.

“I am the only candidate for governor that put single-payer on the table in this state,” Berwick said.

The first meeting of the five Democrats seeking the Corner Office took place at Carey Hall in Lexington Center, a short walk from the site of the first shots in the American Revolution.

“I’m not sure the results of this evening will be quite as historic,” joked Rep. Jay Kaufman, a Lexington Democrat, who hosted the forum, at the beginning of the proceedings.

In 2010, Coakley told NECN anchor Jim Braude, “I don’t support in-state tuition.”

The issue came up when Grossman asked whether the other candidates would “join me” supporting a bill filed by Rep. Denise Provost, of Somerville, and Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, that would set into law the in-state rate, which Patrick has instituted on a limited basis through executive order.

“Steve, I not only join you, I preceded you,” said Berwick.

“Seems like you jumped in front of a parade that was already on the road,” said Avellone, who said he would support requiring undocumented immigrants who take advantage of the discount rate to then work in Massachusetts.

The daughter of a Lebanese immigrant family, Kayyem said that she supports in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants.

Grossman said he would work more closely with the Legislature than Patrick or past administrations, saying that six months before the unveiling of the governor’s budget, he would meet with House and Senate leaders to reach a consensus.

“You can’t get things done unless you can work with the Legislature. I have a track record of doing that. It’s something that I believe deeply, that we need to change that budget process,” Grossman said. “My guess is that all 40 senators, and all 160 members of the Legislature, the House of Representatives, would say, ‘If you can actually create a process by which you bring us into your conversation and you make us part of the debate and the discussion, where we feel that we are stakeholders in the process of building a budget, that will fundamentally change the way we do business in this Commonwealth and that is long overdue.”

A Newton resident and past chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Grossman also name-checked Rep. Ruth Balser, a Newton Democrat; Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, a Gloucester Democrat; and Sen. Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican – citing the latter two as an example of bipartisanship for their efforts on behalf of the fisheries.

Generally the candidates praised Patrick, singling out his efforts to boost clean energy and improve the transportation system.

Berwick, who has highlighted the fact that U.S. Senate Republicans blocked his confirmation as chief of Medicare and Medicaid, said he would bring a multi-faceted approach to dealings with lawmakers.

“I’ve met now with many members of the Legislature in the Senate and the House of Representatives. They seem normal,” Berwick said, who was endorsed this week by Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz. He said “For me it’s simple, social justice, equality, compassion and commitment to everybody, and I think members of the Legislature want to go there, and I would work very hard to establish that higher-level set of goals… If you don’t agree with those goals, I will fight you. I’m not as nice as I look.”

On illicit drug policies and mandatory-minimum sentences, Berwick said as a physician he has seen patients suffer and “there is no question” that there are benefits to marijuana’s medical use, and he said “criminalizing marijuana is a mistake.”

Voters decriminalized possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in 2008.

“When you started the question, I thought you were going to ask us what our own usage of it was,” Coakley joked. She said that more money should be spent on education and rehabilitation and said, “Drug selling is not always a victim-less crime.”

A former Wellesley selectman who was Paul Tsongas’s health care advisor during his presidential run and said he has visited 129 cities and towns through his campaign, Avellone signaled his distance from the current leadership of state government.

“I’m not a Beacon Hill politician and this is no time for politics as usual,” said Avellone. He later raised his eyebrows when Grossman claimed he is the “only one” who has spent his lifetime creating jobs – at the helm of the family business. Grossman also touted 25 years negotiating with unions of Massachusetts Envelope Company without ever going to arbitration.

“I have created thousands of jobs over thirty years,” Avellone said.

Berwick said his health policy company, which he started with a $500,000 grant, weathered the Great Recession without any layoffs.

Berwick challenged his opponents to join him in opposing the 2011 gaming law that has begun the casino licensure process, an entreaty the other four rejected for the jobs and millions in revenues, and in Avellone’s case, a criticism of legislating by ballot referendum.

Casino opponents are seeking to repeal the law through a ballot initiative, though Coakley’s office has ruled the question is unconstitutional because developers have already committed millions under the current statute. The Supreme Judicial Court will hear the case.

“We shouldn’t make promises we cannot deliver on,” said Kayyem in response to Berwick’s challenge.

“I do not like casinos. I think they were oversold,” said Avellone, though he said he opposes the effort to repeal the law.

In her question to the other candidates, Coakley spoke about her younger brother, Edward, who she said resisted treatment for his depression at the age of 17, and at the age of 33 – 18 years ago – committed suicide.

“How would you work to reduce the stigma of mental health issues?” Coakley asked. Berwick volunteered that he did not know about Coakley’s loss, and said he would aim to reduce substance abuse and suicide by 50 percent within five years.

Grossman said he would be willing to raise revenues to boost funding for mental health care. Avellone said the governor could use the “bully pulpit” to “help remove the stigma” of mental illness. Kayyem said when she worked in the civil rights division of the Justice Department, under Patrick, she had brought the first Justice Department lawsuit against a school district for bullying, and said veterans are in need of more assistance. An aide identified the school district as Petaluma City School District.

Kayyem, who said she worked on federal immigration reform in the Obama administration, said she had also worked with five Republican governors during the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and asked the other candidates for examples of working with people they disagreed with politically.

“I am not afraid to take on candidates in the primary or in the general election with whom I disagree or who doesn’t represent the values that I stand for, that I would stand for as governor,” Coakley said. She said, “We still, luckily, live in a country where persuasion works by and large. We don’t have to resort to violence.”


Westfield Fire Department hosts firefighter training course on structural collapse

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Designed by the National Fire Academy, the program was developed to prepare fire department personnel from across the region to respond to and manage structural collapse incidents.

WESTFIELD – Firefighters from across the state spent two days in Westfield enhancing their skills by learning how to manage incidents of structural collapse of buildings due to fire, explosions and natural disasters, among other causes.

The two-day program was held Wednesday and Thursday at Amelia Park Ice Arena and was hosted by the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy’s Incident Command Systems for Structural Collapse Incidents.

Designed by the National Fire Academy, the program was developed to prepare fire department personnel from across the region to respond to and manage structural collapse incidents, said Westfield Fire Capt. Seth M. Ellis.

“We’re learning how to apply systems and technology on a daily basis,” he said. “This could encompass anything from a car driving into a building and causing a collapse to responding to a tornado. We’re also using case studies of actual incidents as learning tools.”

Some of those case studies include the June 2011 tornado that ravaged Western Massachusetts, the natural gas explosion in downtown Springfield in November 2012, the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in 1995 and the 2001 terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center.

Mark V. McCabe, technical resource coordinator for the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, said the material presented during the two-day training sessions is newly developed and intended to provide firefighters with tools they can recall and put to use in the event of a structural collapse.

“We’re giving them the knowledge, skills and ability, and they will have those tools in their toolbox, underneath their helmets to investigate incidents,” he said. “They’ll know how to respond in order to keep themselves and victims safe.”

McCabe said the course takes a proactive approach to possible incidents, preparing firefighters for any eventuality in advance of a structural collapse.

“Structural collapse of aging buildings, especially in Western Massachusetts where there as so many older structures, is always a possibility,” he noted.

Fire Training1.16.14| WESTFIELD| Photo by Manon L. Mirabelli| R. J. Pensivy, a firefighter with the Agawam Fire Department, studies materials on how to respond to structural collapse. The two-day program was held Wednesday and Thursday at Amelia Park Ice Arena. 

R. J. Pensivy, a firefighter/paramedic with the Agawam Fire Department said he can share the material he learned from the course with his colleagues and will help make him be more effective on the job.

“It will help us know how to respond to a call and the resources we need for a structural collapse,” he said.

The course covered causes, contributing factors and associated hazards of structural collapses, explaining basic command procedures. It also touched on identifying critical factors and issues that affect scene management, described all response operational phases associated with a structural collapse incident, and described the technical rescue expertise and equipment required for safe operations and effective incident management.

PM News Links: 2 accused in teenaged prostitutes case, worker killed by shucking machine, and more

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A Milton man was arraigned in Stoughton District Court in connection with two Stoughton bank robberies that are believed to have been conducted by a suspect authorities have dubbed the “Brim Beanie Bandit.”

  • 2 Fall River residents charged in teenage prostitutes case [Fall River Herald News] Video above.

  • New Bedford worker killed after getting caught in shucking machine [South Coast Today.com]

  • Milton man charged in 'Brim Beanie Bandit' robberies in Soughton [Brockton Enterprise]

  • 1 suspect shot, another captured following bank robbery in Arlington [Arlington Advocate]

  • Donations pour in for two small children who's parents both tied tragically in past three months [Patriot Ledger] Related video below.

  • WFXT-TV, Fox25, Dedham

  • Private investigator says former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez may have unwittingly left clues in SUV [Boston Herald]

  • Pennsylvania governor may appeal court's overturning of voter ID law [PennLive.com]

  • 5 held in Southbridge strip club attack [Telegram & Gazette]

  • Connecticut police say 'fake' fashion model scout arrested after bilking woman [Hartford Courant]



  • Do you have news or a news tip to submit to MassLive.com for consideration? Send an email to online@repub.com.



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    Officials at Sherwood Middle School in Shrewsbury discover sixth-grader's 'assassination list'

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    A sixth-grade boy at a Shrewsbury middle school created what he titled an "assassination list" with the names of eight other students, and another untitled list of five students

    A sixth-grade boy at a Shrewsbury middle school created what he titled an "assassination list" with the names of eight other students, and another untitled list of five students.

    The 11-year-old Sherwood Middle School student had the list on his iPad, which he showed to a another student. That student told his parents, who called the school Thursday morning, according to an email sent to parents.

    In an email to parents, Principal Jane O. Lizotte called the list a "poor choice," but said it did not represent a real safety threat.

    Shrewsbury police investigated the list and said they didn't believe there was a credible safety threat.

    "The matter was thoroughly investigated by our school resource officer in cooperation with the school. As a result, we're confident no credible threat exists and the students are safe," Police Chief James Hester told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

    A message left for Hester Friday afternoon was not immediately returned.

    It was unclear if the student has been removed from school. District officials said student confidentiality prevented them from releasing more information.

    Superintendent Joseph Sawyer said the list was an "immature action."

    "While this situation turned out to be nothing more than an immature action by a sixth-grader, the Sherwood Middle School administration responded to the initial report of a concern swiftly and seriously in order to ensure the safety of the school’s students and staff, and then communicated personally with those involved to provide information and reassurance," Sawyer said in a statement.

    Lizotte sent an email to all the school's parents after the district was contacted by a reporter.

    "I felt that it was important to communicate directly with you, our parent community, so that you receive the information directly from me rather than being unnecessarily alarmed by a media report," Lizotte wrote.

    The text of the email sent to parents:

    Dear Sherwood Families,

    I am communicating with you to make you aware of a situation here at Sherwood where a student made a poor choice that required administrative attention, as it could have represented a threat to others. I am pleased to tell you that the incident was thoroughly investigated and determined that there was not a threat to anyone's safety. The specifics are as follows:

    • Yesterday morning, the Sherwood administration became aware of a document created by a 6th grade student that contained a list of 8 students and 1 staff member that was labeled "Assassination List." The document had been shared electronically with another student, who then showed it to his parent, who in turn contacted the school.

    • Mrs. Heather Gablaski, 6th grade assistant principal, and I immediately took steps to address the situation. After speaking with the child who created the document and his parents, speaking with other students, and consulting with school counseling and psychology staff as well as a school resource police officer, we determined that there was not a threat to anyone's safety. The student who created the list demonstrated very poor judgment, and the school is taking appropriate steps to address this issue seriously and with the cooperation of the student's family, who is also understandably upset. Student confidentiality precludes me from sharing specifics.

    • Because of our obligation to ensure the safety of our students and staff, we used an abundance of caution in our approach to this matter. Yesterday, after our thorough investigation indicated that there was no threat, we contacted the families of each student whose name was on the list, as well as the families of five other students whose names were on another, untitled list that was in the document, to make them aware of the situation. We also communicated with staff members as needed. The families expressed appreciation for being informed, and they were grateful for the reassurance that the issue had been thoroughly investigated and resolved. The families were also informed that their students would be provided with support if needed.

    While I typically would not send a whole-school communication to address an issue that has already been communicated directly to those affected, I have been made aware that a parent contacted the media about this situation. I felt that it was important to communicate directly with you, our parent community, so that you receive the information directly from me rather than being unnecessarily alarmed by a media report. I am confident that our school remains a very safe place, and we will continue to take any potentially problematic situations brought to our attention seriously and to respond using our best professional judgment.

    If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at jlizotte@shrewsbury.k12.ma.us or 508-841-8670.

    Respectfully,

    Jane

    Jane O. Lizotte, Ed.D.
    Principal
    Sherwood Middle School


    Wall Street wrap-up: Stock market mostly down as investors digest latest round of company earnings

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    General Electric fell after profit margins at its industrial unit fell short of its own targets. Intel dropped after giving a weak revenue forecast for the first quarter.

    The stock market was mostly down on Friday as investors digested the latest round of company earnings.

    General Electric fell after profit margins at its industrial unit fell short of its own targets. Intel dropped after giving a weak revenue forecast for the first quarter. The Dow Jones industrial average got a lift American Express, which reported that its net income more than doubled. The news also boosted Visa, another Dow member.

    On Friday:

    The Dow Jones industrial average rose 41.55 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,458.56.

    The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 7.19 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,838.70.

    The Nasdaq composite dropped 21.11 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,197.58.

    For the week:

    The Dow is up 21.51 points, or 0.1 percent.

    The S&P 500 is down 3.67 points, or 0.2 percent.

    The Nasdaq is up 22.92 points, or 0.6 percent.

    For the year:

    The Dow is down 118.65 points, or 0.7 percent.

    The S&P 500 is down 9.66 points, or 0.5 percent.

    The Nasdaq is up 20.99 points, or 0.5 percent.


    Investors weren't impressed with the earnings news from big U.S. companies Friday.

    Intel slumped after giving a weak revenue forecast and General Electric dropped after its profit margins fell short. Capital One also fell after the bank's earnings missed expectations.

    The S&P 500 index retreated from a record high close on Wednesday. It ended the week 0.5 percent lower and continued its lackluster start to January.

    Still, many investors aren't ready to give up on the stock market's latest rally, which capped an exceptionally strong 2013 with a gain of almost 10 percent in the final three months of the year.

    "Markets don't go straight up to the moon," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management. "This flat-lining is the market regrouping ... it's a healthy pause."

    GE slumped 62 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $26.58 after profit margins in the company's industrial unit fell short of its own targets.

    Intel dropped 69 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $25.85 after its first-quarter revenue forecast disappointed Wall Street. Intel said revenue would reach $12.8 billion, "plus or minus" $500 million, less than analysts expected.

    The earnings news on Friday wasn't all bad.

    American Express rose $3.19, or 3.6 percent, to $90.97 after the company said late Thursday that its net income more than doubled in the fourth quarter. Amex cardholders boosted their spending and borrowing during the holiday season. The news also lifted Visa. The payment company's stock climbed $10.41, or 4.7 percent, to $232.18.

    The two companies are members of the Dow and together boosted the blue-chip index by 87 points. Without them, the Dow would have ended the day down.

    Morgan Stanley also rose after reporting earnings that beat forecasts. The bank's stock climbed $1.40, or 4.4 percent, to $33.40. Investors were impressed by improving profitability at the bank's wealth management unit, and its pledge to return more capital to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, said Shannon Stemm, an analyst at brokerage firm Edward Jones.

    About 10 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported fourth-quarter results so far. Despite the disappointing earnings on Friday, profits are still forecast to climb 5.3 percent for the period to a record of $27.76 a share, according to S&P Capital IQ.

    Thirteen more companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Delta Air Lines and International Business Machines, will report earnings on Tuesday.

    The stock market is closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

    In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year note fell to 2.82 percent from 2.84 percent late Thursday. In commodities trading, the price of oil rose 41 cents to $94.37 a barrel. Gold climbed $11.70, or 0.9 percent, to $1,251 an ounce.

    Among other stocks making big moves:

    — Elizabeth Arden plunged $6.54, or 19 percent, to $27.96 in heavy trading. The company gave a dismal forecast for its fiscal second quarter and full year late Thursday, citing weak holiday sales.

    — United Parcel Service fell 58 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $99.91 after the package delivery company said its earnings would be lower than it previously forecast. The company said an "unprecedented" amount of online shopping, including a surge of last-minute orders, forced it to use more temporary employees than planned.

    — Capital One fell $4.05, or 5.3 percent, to $72.39. The lender said late Thursday that loans fell in its U.S. credit card and home loan divisions.


    Two witnesses in Adam Lee Hall triple murder trial testify about events around the time the victims disappeared

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    In Auust 2011, weeks before he was to testify against Hall, David Glasser and his roommate, Edward Frampton, and their friend Robert Chadwell, all of Pittsfield, disappeared

    SPRINGFIELD - Two women close to Adam Lee Hall testified Friday that in the weeks right before a Berkshire County triple murder, Hall started spending lot of time with David Chalue and Caius Veiovis.

    In August 2011, weeks before he was to testify against Hall, David Glasser and his roommate, Edward Frampton, and their friend Robert Chadwell, all of Pittsfield, disappeared.

    Their dismembered bodies were found in Becket nearly two weeks later.

    Hall was a ranking member of the local Hells Angels when prosecutors say he, Chalue, 46, of North Adams, and Veiovis, 32, of Pittsfield, kidnapped the three victims from Frampton’s Pittsfield home sometime in the early hours of Aug. 28, 2011, and fatally shot them.

    Hall is being tried first.

    The trials were moved to Hampden Superior Court after defense lawyers said publicity in Berkshire County would make it impossible for a fair trial.

    Hall, 36, of Peru, is facing 20 charges, including multiple counts of murder and kidnapping from three separate incidents involving Glasser as the victim from 2009 through 2011.

    Much of Friday was spent on questioning of prosecution witnesses Alexandra Ely, Hall’s girlfriend at the time of the killings, and Rose Dawson, a friend of both Hall and Ely.

    Defense lawyer Alan J. Black had fought in pretrial motions to keep the two from testifying about what they said Chalue and Hall did on the night of Aug. 29 at the Hells Angels clubhouse in Lee.

    Both testified Friday they went with Chalue and Hall to the clubhouse, which was empty except for the four of them.

    Dawson and Ely said the two men got quite drunk.

    Dawson said Hall was pretending to run away and saying “help me, help me.” She said Chalue was pointing his hand at Hall with his fingers forward and thumb up.

    Hall said something about “you should have seen the look on his face,” but didn’t say whose face, Dawson said. Hall also said, “You should have seen him run and try to get away,” she said.

    Ely testified she saw the same scene, she just didn’t remember which one the two men was pretending to run.

    Officer Hector Santiago of the Springfield Police Department testified on Aug. 27, 2011, he was assigned to gather information about a party at a tavern on Main Street in Springfield.

    It was being hosted by the Berkshire chapter of the Hells Angels. Santiago took photographs of three people getting into a light colored Buick outside the bar.

    Ely identified them as Chalue, Hall and Veiovis.

    Ely said on the weekend of Hurricane Irene - when the victims disappeared - she was six or seven months pregnant with Hall’s child.

    She said Hall and she were together but they were “rocky“ and had issues. She had a kidney infection. She was not speaking with her mother. She was worried about pending charges against her from the 2010 conspiracy with Hall to frame Glasser.

    Ely and Dawson said Hall came to the door at Dawson’s Pittsfield home at 1:30 a.m. Aug. 28.

    He asked for Dawson’s phone, spoke to them briefly and left.

    The next morning, they said, Hall came back and gave Ely very wet money, telling her to get breakfast foods and bleach and meet him at his Peru home.

    Hall told both to wash their hands after they handled the money, they said.

    When they were at the store, Hall called and said he didn’t need the bleach, they said.

    Ely said when they got to Peru, Chalue and Veiovis were tired; Hall was “jumpy.”

    Hall was on the phone talking to someone about moving furniture, she said.

    The trial continues Tuesday before Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder.

    Obituaries today: Charles 'Bud' Hagan was athletics director, registrar at Westfield State University

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    Obituaries from The Republican.

     
    011814 charles hagenCharles Hagan  

    Charles "Bud" Hagan, of Westfield, passed away on Friday. He was a standout athlete in baseball, basketball, football and track at Westfield High School. He was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II. He was employed for 34 years by Westfield State University. He ushered Westfield State into its modern era of intercollegiate athletics, serving as the first full-time athletics director beginning in 1956. He coached the baseball and basketball teams, and was a physical education instructor. He was the dean of men, and later became the registrar until his retirement in 1990.

    Obituaries from The Republican:


    Many remain wary of West Virginia water as smell lingers

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    The smell lingers -- the slightly sweet, slightly bitter odor of a chemical that contaminated the water supply of West Virginia's capital more than a week ago.

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- The smell lingers -- the slightly sweet, slightly bitter odor of a chemical that contaminated the water supply of West Virginia's capital more than a week ago. It creeps out of faucets and shower heads. It wafts from the Elk River, the site of the spill. Sometimes it hangs in the cold nighttime air.

    For several days, a majority of Charleston-area residents have been told their water is safe to drink, that the concentration of a chemical used to wash coal is so low that it won't be harmful. Restaurants have reopened -- using tap water to wash dishes and produce, clean out their soda fountains and make ice.

    But as long as people can still smell it, they're wary -- and given the lack of knowledge about the chemical known as MCHM, some experts say their caution is justified.

    "I would certainly be waiting until I couldn't smell it anymore, certainly to be drinking it," said Richard Denison, a scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund who has followed the spill closely. "I don't blame people at all for raising questions and wondering whether they can trust what's being told to them."

    The Jan. 9 spill from a Freedom Industries facility on the banks of the Elk River, less than 2 miles upstream from Charleston's water treatment plant, led to a ban on water use that affected 300,000 people.

    Four days later, officials started to lift the ban in one area after another, saying tap water was safe for drinking because the concentration of the chemical dipped below one part per million, even though the smell was still strong at that level. By Friday afternoon, nearly all of the 300,000 people impacted had been told the water was safe.

    Late Wednesday, however, health officials issued different guidance for pregnant women, urging them not to drink tap water until the chemical is entirely undetectable. The Centers for Disease Control said it made that recommendation out of an abundance of caution because existing studies don't provide a complete picture of how the chemical affects humans.

    Sarah BergstromSarah Bergstrom poses for a photo with her son Blake, 4, Friday, Jan. 17, 2014, in her home in Charleston, W.Va. The 29-year-old nurse who is 4 months pregnant with her second child was devastated when she learned after a ban on tap water was lifted days after a chemical leak that health officials urged pregnant women not to drink tap water until the chemical is entirely undetectable. (AP Photo/John Raby)

    For Sarah Bergstrom, a 29-year-old nurse who is four months pregnant with her second child, the news was devastating. She hasn't drunk the water since the spill, but she has taken showers.

    "I cried myself to sleep (Wednesday) night. I was both angry and scared," she said. "This baby that we've wanted for so long, I'm now questioning -- have I done something that could have harmed her?"

    Bergstrom said she's fortunate that she can afford bottled water, which she intends to use for the foreseeable future.

    "My biggest fear is for those mothers, those pregnant women out there who aren't able to go get enough bottled water for their family, who don't have the resources and don't have the knowledge base to know that this is not safe," she said.

    Karen Bowling, West Virginia's secretary of Health and Human Resources, said pregnant women who drank the water before being told to avoid it should contact their doctors. For the rest of the population, Bowling said she is confident the tap water is not harmful.

    "It's understandable that people are concerned. I don't want to minimize anybody's feelings about an issue as sensitive as this," said Bowling, who said she drank the tap water after it was declared safe. "It's hard to instill confidence when there's little known about the chemical, but at the same time we have to trust in the science of what's happening."

    According to the health department, 411 patients have been treated at hospitals for symptoms that patients said came from exposure to the chemical, and 20 people have been admitted. Also, more than 1,600 people have called poison control to complain of symptoms. Bowling said the department is trying to sort out how many of those patients were actually sickened by the chemical, and not by other diseases.

    Given the uncertainty, many people in this coal-dependent swath of central West Virginia known as Chemical Valley say avoiding the water is a prudent decision.

    Jeff Duff, a 42-year-old contractor from South Charleston, is drinking bottled water and taking showers at his brother's house about 25 miles to the west, where the tap water comes from a different source.

    "I'm not touching it," Duff said. "I just don't trust it. I don't think they know enough about it to give us a clear answer -- not enough for my safety and my kids' safety."

    Duff said his self-imposed ban also applies to eating at restaurants in the affected area because he's leery about residue left by the chemical on washed dishes.

    The CDC relied on two studies of the chemical's effect on animals to establish the safe standard of one part per million, but data from them is not publicly available.

    "This is a dynamic and moving event. There are many things happening. And we are trying to do our best," Dr. Vikas Kapil of the CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry told reporters in a conference call Thursday. "There are uncertainties. There is little known about this material."

    MCHM is one of tens of thousands of chemicals exempt from testing under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act because they were already in use when the law was approved in 1976. A fact sheet of available data on the chemical says there is no specific information about its toxic effects on humans. Its chances of causing cancer and its effects on reproductive health are unknown, according to the document and the CDC.

    At a busy Charleston intersection a few blocks from West Virginia American Water's treatment plant, Barry Sean Rogers was recently staging a one-man protest with a sign that read: "Our water is unsafe. We are being lied to."

    Rogers, 51, isn't using tap water at his downtown apartment until he gets some answers. He's drinking and bathing in bottled water, and when he leaves his apartment, he turns the taps on to flush out the pipes.

    "If I turn it on, it drives me out of the apartment. It still smells. It's nasty. I get headaches, nausea," Rogers said.

    Hampshire Council of Governments announces electricity deal with Granby

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    In a statement released Thursday, Hampshire Council of Governments [HCOG] announced they had reached agreement with the Granby Select Board on an electricity agreement.

    GRANBY – The Hampshire Council of Governments [HCOG] has reached agreement with the Granby Select Board on an electricity agreement.

    Dubbed a “municipal aggregation agreement,” the program, according to the HCOG, includes 38 communities serving 160,000 people with potential electricity savings in total of up to $6 million a year.

    The HCOG Executive Director Todd Ford said he appreciates the town of Granby’s continuing support for his organization’s efforts.

    “Granby was one of the original seven towns to support community choice with a unanimous Town Meeting vote,” he said. “When you buy items at a grocery store, the unit price is always lower when you buy in bulk. It is basic economics, and energy is no different.”

    Ford’s efforts with Belchertown, however, have hit a snag.

    The Belchertown selectmen on Monday delayed action on the amended electricity aggregation agreement with the HCOG until Jan. 27 -- even though their published agenda indicated a vote would be taken.

    Ford did not attend that meeting but was at the November Belchertown selectmen meeting when some members of the board and the town administrator told him they were unhappy with the HCOG electricity service.

    Ford is expected to attend the Jan. 27 meeting.

    According to Ford, the 38 towns are Great Barrington, Buckland, Charlemont, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Heath, Leverett, Montague, Northfield, Rowe, Warwick, Wendell, Whately, Belchertown, Chesterfield, Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Granby, Hadley, Hatfield, Huntington, Middlefield, Northampton, Pelham, Plainfield, Southampton, Westhampton, Williamsburg, Barre, Brookfield, East Brookfield, Mendon, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Upton, and West Brookfield.

    In last year as governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick prepares to offer goals for final months

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    Gov. Deval Patrick insists he has plenty left to accomplish in the final year of his administration, but with attention already shifting to the race to succeed him, he likely faces the additional challenge of simply staying relevant.

    By BOB SALSBERG, Associated Press

    BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Deval Patrick insists he has plenty left to accomplish in the final year of his administration, but with attention already shifting to the race to succeed him, he likely faces the additional challenge of simply staying relevant.

    Patrick faces an important week ahead, delivering his last State of the State address on Tuesday, one day before submitting his budget blueprint to the Legislature.

    "It's a delicate balancing act because no one wants to view himself as a lame duck even if the reality is that the political focus is going to move well beyond the incumbent," notes Peter Ubertaccio, a political science professor at Stonehill College.

    Few on Beacon Hill expect Patrick to offer bold new proposals but to instead concentrate on completing work on goals his administration has pursued over the past seven years.

    "The budget is going to be in balance," Patrick told reporters recently. "We are going to continue to invest in the things we know make a difference, in education, innovation and infrastructure."

    Patrick has scuttled speculation that he might rekindle elements of the $1.8 billion tax package he proposed in last year's State of the State address, including an income tax hike to finance improvements in transportation and education. The Legislature opted for a scaled-down package that increased gasoline and cigarette taxes and imposed a tax on software services that was later repealed under pressure from business groups.

    It wasn't the first time Patrick had been forced to settle for less than what he sought in his annual speech and budget. In 2012, the Legislature approved a $10 million funding increase for the community college system but balked at his call for centralized management of the colleges.

    Some of Patrick's loftier goals have also faltered. In 2008, after his first year in office, he called for a plan to "end homelessness in Massachusetts once and for all." Recent figures have pointed to even more homeless families being sheltered in motels.

    But there have also been notable successes, including the Legislature's passage of a health care cost containment law championed by Patrick and reforms in the state's pension system.

    Former Democratic state Party Chairman John Walsh, one of Patrick's closest political advisers, doesn't foresee any significant shift in tone or policy during the governor's final months in office.

    Walsh, who oversees Patrick's political action committee, also rejects the notion that the governor might try to lay the groundwork for future political endeavors by trumpeting achievements and trying to cement his legacy.

    "I don't think there is a sense of flying a lot of 'mission accomplished' banners with Gov. Patrick," Walsh said. "His focus is on where we are heading, where we are in the journey."

    It's a sensitive topic in Massachusetts, where many residents were irked when Patrick's predecessor, Republican Mitt Romney, appeared to lose interest in the job as his attention moved to a White House bid. Two other former governors, William Weld and Paul Cellucci, resigned from office to pursue other ambitions.

    For much of his second term, speculation had abounded that Patrick, a friend and political ally of President Barack Obama, might bolt for a high-ranking Washington job or even begin eyeing a 2016 presidential run.

    Patrick has consistently promised to serve out his full term and return to the private sector after departing. Walsh said he was relieved that most people were finally coming to accept the pledge as fact.

    Republican state Rep. Brad Jones, the House minority leader, derided last year's failed tax proposal as the "Deval Patrick legacy project." He said the governor should focus his final year on correcting problems within state government, including at the Department of Families and Children, which is under outside review after social workers lost track of a 6-year-old Fitchburg boy who is feared dead.

    "He's coming to the end of his administration. There is an ebbing of political capital," said Jones, who doubts whether Patrick retains enough clout even with a solidly Democratic Legislature to push through major initiatives before leaving office.

    But if Patrick is able to effectively push reforms in the DCF and his administration avoids other serious missteps, Ubertaccio believes he'll leave a successful legacy as governor and assure a future as an influential voice in the Democratic Party.

    "Barring anything on the radar that would be incredibly controversial, he could end on a very high note," Ubertaccio said.

    Democrats vying to succeed Patrick in the November election include Attorney General Martha Coakley; state Treasurer Steven Grossman; Don Berwick, a former top health care official in President Barack Obama's administration; Juliette Kayyem, a former federal Homeland Security official; and Joseph Avellone, a business executive and former Wellesley selectman.

    Charlie Baker, the 2010 Republican nominee and former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, is making another run for governor. Mark Fisher, a Shrewsbury business owner, is also vying for the GOP nomination.

    Health care executive Evan Falchuk is running under his newly created United Independent Party and Jeffrey McCormick, a founder of the Boston venture capital firm Saturn Partners, entered the race as an independent in late October. The Springfield-based anti-gay minister Scott Lively, who's platform includes protecting the state's honeybees and the intention to "unapologetically articulate Biblical values without fear or compromise," also recently announced his candidacy.


    Greenfield preparing new master plan to guide town's future development

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    A town planner said the master plan is "a method of turning the community’s values into actions."

    Greenfield winter carnival 2013.JPGOne of the multiple ice sculptures that were on display on Main Street in Greenfield for the 2013 Winter Carnival. 

    By REBECCA RIDEOUT

    GREENFIELD – A final presentation to release the results of Greenfield’s year-long Sustainable Master Plan will be held at the Greenfield Community College’s Sloan Theater Jan. 21 at 6:30 p.m.

    A municipal master plan “serves as the town’s primary policy statement on future development,” according to the plan’s website, www.greenfieldmasterplan.com.

    Town members’ goals and concerns were addressed during the course of the study. Conversations on issues ranging from natural and cultural resources to the town’s housing stock and economic opportunities were held throughout 2013 to help formulate a new direction for town planners. The town’s last master plan was updated in 2001.

    According to Eric Twarog, Greenfield’s director of Planning and Development, the goal of the master plan was to involve citizens in a town-wide discussion about the future of Greenfield. “One of the things we wanted to do was to engage the community more and get groups who aren’t usually involved with stuff like this to come to public meetings and discussions,” said Twarog.

    The planning process is a “method of turning the community’s values into actions,” he said.

    Community outreach and public participation made up the first part of the four-part plan overseen by the consulting group Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc (VHB). The first community event, held on March 9 at the Four Rivers Charter Public School, attracted more than 100 participants. The second gathering on Sept. 26 on the town square welcomed 150 community members, who “voted” for issues important to them in their hometown at booths set up in the center of town.

    The second phase of the plan included data collection and analysis by the consultants, and was finalized and submitted on Dec. 31.

    The Jan. 21 presentation will fulfill the third phase, in which a final draft plan is presented to the public. Putting the plan into action makes up phase four, during which a committee will be established by the town to implement each major goal laid out in the final plan.

    The goal sought by the town planners is to create a sustainable plan that is designed to “meet the needs of current and future generations in Greenfield without compromising the systems on which they depend,” according to the website. Greenfield is one of only a few communities that have embarked on developing a Sustainable Master Plan, making the town a leader in this type of municipal planning.

    The program was made possible by grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which also funded the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning for Franklin County, and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.

    The final presentation will allow the public to review the final findings of the study. Once approved, the implementation plan for the town, set out by VHB, includes specific strategies and zoning suggestions.

    The plan has a 10 to 15 year lifespan, says Twarog. This term is shorter than master plans pre-2000. “Things rapidly change in cities more than they did in the past, so this is as far out as the study is able to go.”


    Retired Connecticut broadcaster Kevin Brownell charged with possessing thousands of child pornography images

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    Kevin Brownell, 65, of Avon, Conn. was arrested at his home around 7 a.m. Friday, and charged with possession of child pornography.

    A retired broadcast journalist who previously worked with several Connecticut stations was arrested this week following an investigation by state troopers and the Avon Police Department into child pornography.

    Kevin BrownellView full sizeKevin Brownell 

    Kevin Brownell, 65, of Avon, Conn. was arrested at his home around 7 a.m. Friday, and charged with several counts of possession of child pornography. Police say tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led them to Brownell, whom they allege was found to be in possession of thousands of images of underage girls ages 4-to-12.

    According to CBS affiliate WFSB, Brownell admitted to police that he had a problem with child pornography a few years back and that he had sought psychiatric help.

    The news station also reported that while authorities were working to identify the victims in the images, they determined photos of clothed girls found in the collection were taken at Connecticut attractions including the Mystic Aquarium.

    Brownell, who reportedly worked for outlets including WFSB and NBC Connecticut, was taken into custody and arraigned in Hartford Superior Court on Friday. His bond was set at $65,000 and he is next scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 4.


    Massachusetts transportation officials strike deal for $24 million in raises to workers whose jobs are set to be eliminated

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    Massachusetts transportation officials say they have struck a three-year labor deal that provides pay raises worth $24 million to 410 toll workers and couriers whose jobs will be eliminated by 2016.

    BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts transportation officials say they have struck a three-year labor deal that provides pay raises worth $24 million to 410 toll workers and couriers whose jobs will be eliminated by 2016.

    The Massachusetts Department of Transportation says the tentative deal saves $50 million annually and clears the way for the installation of a new electronic tolling system along the Massachusetts Turnpike, the Tobin Bridge, as well as the Ted Williams and Sumner/Callahan Tunnels.

    Drivers will no longer be able to stop at a toll booth and pay cash for their toll.

    Instead, tolls will be collected electronically through a driver's E-ZPass transponder or by a new system which allows a camera to record a license plate number and send the registered owner of the car a bill through the mail.

    Workers must ratify the new labor deal.


    Russian protester detained at Olympic relay north of Sochi after unfurling rainbow flag in support of gay rights

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    Photos uploaded by his friends show Pavel Lebedev pulling out the flag and then being detained by Olympic security personnel, who wrestle him to the snow as they wait for police to arrive.

    MOSCOW (AP) — A gay Russian protester was detained on Saturday for unfurling a rainbow flag during the Olympic torch relay as it passed through his hometown of Voronezh, 560 miles (910 kilometers) north of Sochi, where the games will begin Feb. 7.

    Photos uploaded by his friends show Pavel Lebedev pulling out the flag and then being detained by Olympic security personnel, who wrestle him to the snow as they wait for police to arrive. Lebedev, reached by The Associated Press on the phone, said he was still in the police station and undergoing questioning.

    "Hosting the games here contradicts the basic principles of the Olympics, which is to cultivate tolerance," Lebedev said, citing growing homophobia in Russia as the main reason for his protest.

    A ban on propaganda of "nontraditional sexual relations" that was signed by President Vladimir Putin into law in June has provoked widespread international outrage from critics who believe the legislation discriminates against gays.

    In the wake of that backlash, Russian authorities have put limits on the right to protest during the Sochi Olympics, which will run until Feb. 23. A presidential decree initially banned all rallies in Sochi from Jan. 7 to March 21, but Putin later rescinded the ban to allow demonstrations at venues determined by the Interior Ministry.


    Brazilian actor Alex DeMelo becomes certified nursing assistant in Greenfield

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    Before leaving his home in Rio de Janeiro in 1994, Alex DeMelo worked as a stage actor for 15 years and found a home in the theater. Now, DeMelo is playing a role intimately involved in real life, as a newly minted certified nursing assistant at Charlene Manor Extended Care Facility.

    By RICHIE DAVIS, The Recorder

    GREENFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Before leaving his home in Rio de Janeiro in 1994, Alex DeMelo worked as a stage actor for 15 years and found a home in the theater.

    Now, DeMelo is playing a role intimately involved in real life, as a newly minted certified nursing assistant at Charlene Manor Extended Care Facility. The path hasn't been an easy one, but DeMelo, who lives in Montague, says he can't be more grateful.

    "I love people. It makes me feel good when I'm working with people," said the 51-year-old actor, former construction worker and carpenter. "There is nothing more powerful for me than this."

    It was while he was on the beach at Ipanema during a 1993 visit with his brother — who'd already settled in Connecticut with other members of his family — when he heard his brother carrying on a conversation with someone in English and suddenly realized, "I don't understand a single thing that is going on. I have no money to pay my bills."

    Until that moment, DeMelo said, "Rio was almost my skin. I was a stage actor, I loved it so much, it was almost a spiritual thing." But he decided he wanted to go to college, to learn English, to follow his parents and siblings to the United States.

    DeMelo arrived in 1997 and began working for his family's landscaping and construction business, beginning by picking up leaves and learning carpentry. In 2004, he set up his own construction business in Danbury, Conn.

    He married an American woman in 2003, they had two children and bought two houses.

    "Everything was like a dream," he recalls. "It was so beautiful going up, it was so ugly going down," when the economic collapse began to wipe out his business, his houses, and even his marriage between 2004 and 2009.

    "Everything went down the drain," he recalls. "I lost everything. I divorced. I almost died, I didn't know if I could survive. It was terrifying."

    When his wife met someone else and decided to move to western Massachusetts with the children, she asked him if he wanted to follow them.

    Actor Nursing AssistantView full sizeIn this Dec. 9, 2013 photo, Certified Nursing Assistant Alex DeMelo, center, of Montague, Mass., poses with colleagues Kendra Potter, left, and Cindy Garnett at Charlene Manor Extended Care Facility, where they work in Greenfield, Mass. Before leaving his home in Rio de Janeiro in 1994, DeMelo worked as a stage actor for 15 years and found a home in the theater. But he decided he wanted to go to college, to learn English, and to follow his parents and siblings to the United States. (AP Photo/The Recorder, Paul Franz) 

    "They are my life," he said of his daughter, Ella, and son, Noah, now 8 and 10. "This is why I'm here."

    After he moved to Montague in 2012, DeMelo found a temporary job working at a home improvement store but then got laid off.

    "I stopped working, and I was 50 years old," he recalls thinking. "Now what? No job. No credit. Nothing."

    But he decided maybe the time was right to begin college, so he went to talk with people at Greenfield Community College, first considering the theater department. Instead, though, he took on the health sciences as a more practical path.

    The cost was out of reach, said DeMelo, who was helped by the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. But as he began talking with advisers, and also seeing newspaper ads for certified nursing assistants, he inquired at the Greenfield Career Center, where college and career navigator Sarah Wing and Assessment Counselor Carol Hayes steered him to the Skill Start and Workforce Investment Act programs to help him through a five-week Certified Nursing Assistant-Home Health Aide training at GCC.

    The program has trained as many as 90 people a year since 2007, Hayes said, for a career he expects to see grow more than 19 percent in this region because of an aging population.

    Within a month of getting his certificate this summer, DeMelo was looking at three possible CNA jobs in the area and took a post at Charlene Manor.

    "I cannot tell you," DeMelo told a Franklin-Hampshire Career Center gathering last week, pausing several times to collect his emotions and his English. "I don't have the words to say what being a CNA means to me. I definitely love my job. I have nine — I like to call them — kids. And they let me, I ask them let me call them kids. They're around 90 years old."

    The counselors at GCC and the career center, DeMelo said, guided him, "step by step, saying, 'You can do this.'"

    "I was thanking this country, I was thanking this state. I was thanking everything because I wouldn't believe this could be possible," he said. "This is real."

    He said, "CNA was a surprise for me," because it connects him with people who need his help caring for them in the most basic way. "There is nothing more powerful for me. I love art, I love music, I love spirituality. Being a CNA, I'm not afraid of anything right now."

    As he finds his footing — he is still taking classes at GCC toward a health sciences degree — DeMelo plans to resume his oil painting and also pursue his love of theater, participating in a week-long winter intensive program at Ashfield's Double Edge Theatre.

    But he says that working closely with people and helping them in basic yet profound ways, has given his life a new sense of purpose.

    "We don't know what's going to happen with us anytime," DeMelo says. "I help people when they cannot move, I help people who have had a stroke, I help people in the Alzheimer's disease unit ... and it can be any one of us, any one of us can be there."


    Hoboken mayor says Gov. Chris Christie's administration withheld Superstorm Sandy recovery money over her opposition to a commercial development project

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    The Christie administration withheld millions of dollars in Superstorm Sandy recovery grants from a New Jersey city because its mayor refused to sign off on a politically connected commercial development, the mayor said Saturday.

    By ANGELA DELLI SANTI, Associated Press

    TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The Christie administration withheld millions of dollars in Superstorm Sandy recovery grants from a New Jersey city because its mayor refused to sign off on a politically connected commercial development, the mayor said Saturday.

    Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer alleged that Gov. Chris Christie's lieutenant governor and a top community development official told her recovery funds would flow to her city if she allowed the project to move forward.

    Zimmer said Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno pulled her aside at an event in May and told her Sandy aid was tied to the project — a proposal from the New York City-based Rockefeller Group aimed at prime real estate in the densely populated city across the river from New York City.

    "I was directly told the by the lieutenant governor — she made it very clear — that the Rockefeller project needed to move forward or they wouldn't be able to help me," Zimmer told The Associated Press.

    "There is no way I could ethically do what the governor, through the lieutenant governor, is asking me to do," she said.

    Christie's office denied Zimmer's claims, calling her statements politically motivated. Spokesman Colin Reed said the administration has been helping Hoboken secure assistance since Sandy struck." Christie himself was raising money Saturday for fellow Republicans in Florida. The fundraisers were closed to reporters.

    A state web site that tracks the distribution of Sandy aid shows that Hoboken received a $200,000 post-storm planning grant in October out of a $1.8 billion pot of money controlled by the state. Hoboken also received a $142,000 state energy resilience grant.

    Besides state money, Hoboken has received $70 million in recovery funds distributed by the federal government, according to the Christie administration. Zimmer said she has applied for $100 million to implement a comprehensive plan to help insulate her city from future floods.

    Christie is already embroiled in another scandal involving traffic jams apparently manufactured to settle a political score. At a recent news conference to discuss the lane closures on the approach to the George Washington Bridge, Christie brushed aside questions about his aggressive governing style. "I am who I am," said Christie, "I am not a bully."

    Dawn ZimmerIn this Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009 file photograph, Hoboken Mayor, Dawn Zimmer speaks to the media as she stands near the Hudson River in Hoboken, N.J. Zimmer, mayor of a New Jersey city that sustained severe flooding from Hurricane Sandy claims the Christie administration withheld millions of dollars in recovery grants because she refused to sign off on a politically connected development. MSNBC first reported her comments Saturday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans,file)  

    But Zimmer said Guadagno and Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable, a member of Christie's cabinet, both delivered messages about Sandy aid in no uncertain terms.

    Zimmer, who first spoke with MSNBC on Saturday, told the cable network that at another event in May Constable said "the money would start flowing to you" if she backed the project.

    The Rockefeller Group did not immediately return a phone message left by The Associated Press. In a statement to MSNBC, a spokesman said it had no knowledge of any information related to Zimmer's claims.

    Zimmer, a Democrat, said she is willing to take a lie detector test or testify under oath about the conversations.

    Christie's office called Zimmer's claims a political move.

    "Gov. Christie and his entire administration have been helping Hoboken get the help they need after Sandy," Reed said. "It's very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television."

    The Sandy aid matter is the second time in recent weeks Christie's administration has been accused of exacting retribution for political reasons.

    Christie's chief of staff, chief counsel, chief political strategist and two-time campaign manager have all been subpoenaed for documents related to the September closing of approach lanes near the George Washington Bridge, which led to traffic chaos in the town of Fort Lee across the river from New York City.

    The agency that runs the bridge, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is chaired by David Samson, whose law firm, Wolff & Samson, represented the developer in the Hoboken matter, according to Zimmer. A phone message left at the firm's office was not returned Saturday.

    Twenty new subpoenas issued in the bridge closure matter on Friday reach deep into the Christie administration, the port authority, and his re-election campaign, but spare the governor himself.

    The U.S. Attorney's Office is reviewing the lane closings and a legislative panel is investigating who authorized the apparent plot and why.

    Zimmer said she is telling her story in hopes that Hoboken gets much-needed assistance in the second wave of relief funding yet to be approved by the federal government for distribution by the state. That money, total of $1.4 billion to be distributed through the state Community Development Block Grant program, is awaiting federal approval. The focus will be on improving infrastructure, Community Affairs spokeswoman Lisa Ryan said.

    Interviewed by the Associated Press last month, Zimmer voiced concerns about the lack of storm aid to her town, but expressed hope that the administration would come through in the next round. She did not mention the real estate development in the interview with the AP.


    Associated Press reporter Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton contributed to this report.
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