The Harlem Globetrotters made a tour stop at the birthplace of basketball Sunday afternoon.

SPRINGFIELD - The Harlem Globetrotters made a tour stop at the birthplace of basketball Sunday afternoon. The one-of-a-kind American icons took the court with their hardwood wizardry to the delight of a crowded MassMutual Center.

The show was as much an athletic exhibition of ball handling and slam dunks as an avalanche of seemingly endless pranks and family entertainment for all ages.

Founded in the 1920's, the Harlem Globetrotters are recognized as one of the world's most influential basketball teams. The team is no stranger to Springfield, having been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

The Globetrotter stars were available post-game to sign autographs, take photos, and supply many high fives.

If you missed this show, the Globetrotters will be at the DCU Center in Worcester on March 10 and 11. Tickets are available at harlemglobetrotters.com.

Searchers coninued to look for Krystal Baily Sunday after she jumped into the Great brook after a car crash Saturday night/. Police believe she was unable to get out of the river and was swept downstream.

Dave Canton | dcanton@repub.com 

Vermont State Police said in a statement they believe Krystal Bailey, of Barre, jumped in the Great Brook along with the driver of the crashed car, Allie Duda. The women may have been trying to evade law enforcement officials.

Members of the Vermont State Police, Vermont Army National Guard, the Colchester Technical Rescue, Stowe Technical Rescue, Plainfield, Marshfield and East Montpelier fire departments searched the brook and river and found several items that belonged to Bailey in the water.

Authorities believe that both women jumped into the brook, but Bailey was unable to climb out and was swept downstream.

First responders to the 9 p.m. car crash scene on Brook Road in Plainfield said they saw two women walking way from the crash site as they approached. The crew continued to the crash site to make sure no other people needed medical attention, and moments later returned to where they saw the women. By the time they returned the both women had disappeared. A search of the area found Duda as she left the brook but Bailey was nowhere to be found.

Police ascertained Duda was the driver of the car and she was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol after a preliminary Breathalyzer test indicated her blood alcohol level to be over .16, or twice the legal limit.

Searchers plan to continue searching along the Winooski River downstream from where they left off Sunday.

Anyone with information about Bailey's whereabouts is asked to contact Vermont State Police at Middlesex at 802-229-9191.

Two water main breaks are disrupting morning traffic on Wilbraham Road and Allen Street. While traffic is flowing on Allen street, police have blocked all traffic on Wilbraham Road from Alden to Benton streets.

Republican file 

A break on upper Allen Street will slow traffic through the repair area, but Springfield Police Capt. Brian Keenan said traffic will be allowed to pass.

Not so at a second water main break on Wilbraham Road. Keenan said police have blocked all traffic on Wilbraham Road between Alden and Benton streets..

The first break came just after 11 p.m., when water flow alarms at several stores at the Five Town Plaza indicated fire sprinklers had been activated. The Allen Street break reduced water pressure to those properties and falsely indicated the fire suppression systems had been activated.

Firefighters responded to the area but found no fire, just the water main break.

Patrolling police noticed water flowing on Wilbraham Road at about 2:30 a.m. and notified the city's DPW. Traffic measures were set in place so city workers can repair the main.

Obituaries from The Republican.

After a chilly start Monday, it will again feel like spring in Massachusetts.

After a chilly start Monday, it will again feel like spring in Massachusetts. 

Monday will be sunny, with a high near 56 degrees across the state, according to the National Weather Service. 

Temperatures in the 50s are expected both Monday and Tuesday this week, then in the 60s on Wednesday. 

East Windsor approved a development agreement for a casino, and Windsor Locks officials said they will have an agreement ready by Tuesday. A needed town referendum will come in weeks.

Dave Canton | dcanton@repub.com

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn.-- Windsor Locks First Selectman Chris Kervick said his town government could approve a development agreement for a casino as early as Tuesday, the New London Day reported.

Kervick said Saturday's vote by East Windsor selectmen to approve financial conditions for a proposed casino is not going to knock his town out of the running. He said East Windsor could have a select board agreement approved Tuesday evening. A needed town referendum could take place within weeks, he said.

Even with both towns approving development agreements, the state legislature needs to pass a law allowing commercial gambling in the state before any projects move forward.

The "satellite" casino designed to compete directly with a $950 million MGM Grand Resorts development in downtown Springfield has been requested by a partnership of two Connecticut Native American tribes. The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, owners of the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in the southeastern part of the state, have joined forces to try to develop a third state casino to stems losses they expect from the Springfield project.

MMCT Ventures has proposed a $300 million project to be built somewhere along the I-91 corridor near the state line. Of the five towns originally considered, East Windsor and Windsor Locks are the last two under consideration.

Kervick said he is heartened by the terms East Windsor announced Saturday. He said his town's proposal for a development on 76 acres of a former tobacco field near Bradley International Airport is slightly lower.

The property is located on Route 20 near the I-91 interchange. East Windsor's site is a vacant Showcase Cinema location just off of and visible from the interstate highway.

While both tribes operate large casinos in the state, both are built on tribal reservation properties and subject only to federal regulation. The satellite casino would not be subject to the same protections. A law allowing commercial gambling would have to be passed by the Connecticut legislature.

The tribes claim that the Springfield casino could suck millions of dollars in revenues from the casinos and ultimately from the Connecticut state government in taxes and fees paid by the tribes.

MMCT Ventures has said the project would hire 1,700 construction workers initially, then at least that many permanent workers for the casino itself.

East Windsor selectmen Saturday approved a development agreement that would pay that town a flat fee of $3 million a year, plus approximately $5.5 million a year in taxes.

Friends and family confirmed over Facebook that the 16-year-old girl killed in a rollover crash Sunday morning was Sydney Corio.

Friends and family confirmed over Facebook that the 16-year-old girl killed in a rollover crash in Stoneham Sunday morning was Sydney Corio. 

Corio was a student at Stoneham High School, and many classmates shared their memories of her over social media when the news broke. 

According to Massachusetts State Police, Corio was driving near Pond Street in Stoneham around 12:40 a.m. when she lost control of her SUV.  

The vehicle, a 2000 Ford Explorer, had rolled over multiple times and there were no other vehicles involved, police said. Pond Street was shut down for hours after the crash. 

WCVB.com reported that Corio was not wearing a seatbelt. According to Eddy Moreira, a friend of Syndey, the young girl had just dropped off a friend in Boston before the accident. 

Inside the Penny Candy store, customers can find thousands of sweets, from novelty items such as a lollipop shaped as a foot, to a rainbow of rock candy. Watch video

On a sunny February day, a woman walked into a nondescript store in Sharon looking for cigarettes.

After asking the owner where she could pick some out, she was taken over to peruse options for a different kind of vice. What lay before her, tucked in between displays of Pez dispensers and rock candy, was an entire display of candy cigarettes.

Inside the Penny Candy store, customers can find thousands of sweets, from novelty items such as a lollipop shaped as a foot, to a rainbow of rock candy.

Penny Candy, Inc. opened six decades ago as a wholesale candy supplier, with the Sharon business serving as a warehouse. 

From time to-time, people would stop in seeking to purchase small quantities of candy but were turned away. 

Then the business' contract with Walgreens, by far its biggest customer, ended and Elias Fares looked for a new way to keep his family's business going. 

He thought of people walking in looking for a retail store. "We said, 'why not give it a try?'" 

Three years later, the retail shop is up and running, open seven days a week and online. 

The Penny Candy store has more than 2,000 kinds of candy in stock.

"We have candy you can't find anywhere else," Fares said. 

He added, pointing to a display of multi-colored chocolate roses, "You can even make a candy garden." 

Residents in the Franklin County town reported hearing the tell-tale roar of the tornado and sought shelter in basements. "It was very fortunate that nobody was killed in this event," the National Weather Service said in a statement.

A tornado touched down in a pair of Western Massachusetts towns this weekend, the National Weather Service has confirmed.

Surveyors visited Ashfield, Chesterfield, Conway and Chesterfield Sunday following Saturday night's storm. Members of the federal weather agencies concluded that a tornado touched down in Goshen then lifted for several miles before touching down again and tearing up a five-mile path in Conway, the National Weather Service said in a public information statement. 

The tornado hit Goshen at approximately 7:18 p.m. Saturday. A pair of homes were damaged on Pine Road after several pine trees "were snapped mid-way" and fell on the structures, the National Weather Service said.

Winds were blowing at 80 to 100 miles per hour and it took between two and seven minutes for the EF1 tornado to hop and "touched down with a vengeance" on Main Poland Road in Conway, meteorologists with the National Weather Service said. 

Residents in the Franklin County town reported hearing the tell-tale roar of the tornado and sought shelter in basements. "It was very fortunate that nobody was killed in this event," the National Weather Service said in a statement. No injuries have been reported. 

In a five-mile path, at least a dozen houses were damaged, a 300-year-old barn was flattened and hundreds of thick pine trees were snapped. "Roofs were blown off, with some metal wrapped around middle and upper portions of trees," the National Weather Service said. "In one case, a the side walls of a house were missing with the interior of the house exposed."

United Congregational Church in Conway, which was recently re-opened following a $500,000 renovation, was damaged in the tornado. 

"A piece of what appears to be someone's house went through the roof of the church and is hanging into the sanctuary," Pastor Rev. Candi Ashenden said. "The bell tower is out of alignment and the bell has been ripped from its stanchions and is on its side."

The church has been closed indefinitely. 

Storm badly damages 12 homes, church in Conway and Goshen

Meteorologists say this is the first recorded tornado in the month of February  since official tornado statistics were kept in 1950. 

A state of emergency was declared in conway at 9 p.m. Saturday and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency was called to assist with the recovery. 

The tornado left 78 percent of Eversource customers in Conway without power. Power was fully restored by Monday morning. 

OMG has already hired nine full-time employees for its new heat treatment unit. The company will need a total of 25 people to staff it.

AGAWAM -- Look on the shelves at a hardware store or home center.

If it's a warehouse-type place, also look up at the commercial roof covering the store.

You'll see products from Agawam's OMG Inc. in both places.

The 36-year-old company, originally known as Olympic Manufacturing, makes screws, washer plates, vents, metal edges, adhesives and construction equipment  for commercial flat roofs like those over factories and big box retailers. OMG also makes FastenMaster, a line of screws for residential decks that contractors can hide, giving the finished deck a better appearance. OMG sells FastenMaster at lumber yards and hardware stores around the country, with contractors as the primary customers.

It all adds up to about a billion screws a year.

"That's actually small in our industry," said Hubert T. McGovern, company president. "We aren't competing for the business making all these drywall screws holding up the walls. We don't do commodity screws. We work in a very specific niche market."

Some OMG screws are as long as two feet, long enough to fasten a roof through layers of insulation.

And, with an ongoing expansion, it'll do more of the work making its products here in Agawam, with more employees doing the manufacturing.

"We're committed," McGovern said. "We are committed to our workforce and we need our people if we are to grow."

And to grow its staff -- if OMG can find the workers it needs.

OMG is nearing completion on a $15 million expansion to add heat-treating equipment to its manufacturing operation in Agawam. The heat treating plant will go on top of manufacturing, warehousing and administrative capabilities already located on Bowles Road. The company even has a wind tunnel in Agawam for testing its roofs in simulated storms.

The heat-treating equipment, $10 million of which is already in place, will be able to harden about 80 percent of the 100,000 pounds of screws OMG makes in an average day. Those screws have to get up to 1,000 degrees and then get quenched in a bath of oil in order to take on the appropriate strength, said Kevin Walters, project manager for the heat treating operation.

Today, OMG sends its screws out to be heat treated by other companies. That's several tractor trailers coming and going every day to plants up and down the east coast.

"That is why it takes days to weeks to get our product processed," Walters said.

The first of the new equipment will be up and running in about a month, after which OMG will do most of its own heat treating.

"We can serve our customers more quickly," Walters said. "More rapidly."

The factory will still make the screws from steel wire, adding points, heads and the threading. Those screws will be loaded win bins tagged with a coded card.

Then bins will arrive in the heat treating room, where workers will shoot the zebra code on a tag with a laser scanner, just like a clerk would while checking out a customer at a store.

"That tells us what recipe we are using," Walters said. "How long and how hot."

The bins will automatically travel to the right machine and dump in the screws. Then the cart picks them up and takes them to the next step in the process.

Once completed, the line will have five heat-treating machines, plus machines for quenching in oil, tempering and washing.

OMG has already hired nine full-time employees for the heat treatment unit. The company will need a total of 25 people to staff it.

That doesn't count the 15 or so other open positions at OMG, which has struggled in recent years to attract qualified candidates for manufacturing jobs despite an aggressive package of pay and benefits and a lot of recruiting.

"Our HR staff, it's their job to go out and get people," McGovern said. "And they work hard."

OMG said it matches salaries based on surveys of similar employers across the country. To stay competitive, OMG also offers a benefits package that includes paid time off coming in the door, a company match on 401k contributions, a wellness program with both financial and physical fitness elements, tuition reimbursement, health, life and disability insurances, and paid holidays. OMG estimates that these benefits on average represent about 25 percent of an individual's annual base pay.   

The nonsupervisory heat treatment positions typically pay in the range of $16 to  $22 and hour.

McGovern said fewer people today think of manufacturing careers. OMG wants to raise its profile to get on people's radar.

"I doubt there isn't a manufacturer in the U.S. who doesn't have the same problem," said Robert D. Murphy, senior vice president of supply chain management at OMG.

McGovern said OMG now does its own training in house. "We look for people with mechanical aptitude and we train them ourselves," he said.

The Agawam plant has about 350 employees out of the company's total of 530. Other, smaller, plants are in Addison, Illinois, with about 50 employees; Ashville, North Carolina, with 50; Charlotte, North Carolina, with 15; and Rockford, Minnesota, where there are 10 to 15 employees. There also are warehouses across the country, as well as in Canada, China and in the Netherlands.

OMG  is owned by Handy &  Harman Ltd., a publicly traded company whose other businesses range from meat cutting, fish processing and deli equipment to precious metals.

The two were reportedly struck by an orange Hyundai Tucson SUV near 680 Centre St.

A father and son were struck by a vehicle while crossing the street near the Brockton Signature Healthcare facility Sunday night, NBC Boston reported. 

The two were reportedly struck by an orange Hyundai Tucson SUV near 680 Centre St. Brockton police told NBC that the father and son were leaving a trading card game store when they were hit. 

Both victims were hospitalised after the accident. The father is in serious condition. His son is suffering from less serious injuries, NBC reported. 

According to The Enterprise, the Brockton Fire Department is classifying it as a "serious pedestrian incident."

The driver of the SUV stayed on scene and waited for help to arrive. The windshield and front bumper of the vehicle were seriously damaged by the incident. 

Authorities did not release the names or ages the victims Sunday night. Police have not determined the cause of the crash and it's unclear if the driver has been charged with anything yet, The Enterprise reported. 

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for Hartford County, Connecticut on Monday.

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for Hartford County, Connecticut on Monday.

The flood warning will take effect at 11 p.m. Monday and be active until 4 p.m. Tuesday, meteorologists with the organization said in a weather alert.

The Springfield City Council will consider approvals of a apartment block renovation project on State Street in Old Hill and a new Taco Bell on Main Street in the North End.

SPRINGFIELD — The City Council will consider special permit requests on Monday night ranging from a developer's plans to renovate and restore use of a vacant apartment building on State Street in Old Hill to a proposed new Taco Bell in the North End.

Public hearings are scheduled on those and other developments beginning at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall.

St. James Commons Apartments Limited Partnership is seeking a special permit to re-establish the 26-unit apartment building at 573 State St., needing a council permit because of its long-term vacancy and discontinued use.

The Planning Department is strongly recommending approval with several conditions, saying it is at a prominent intersection at State and Oak streets and has a "great deal of architectural significance."

"The staff is very pleased to see that this building will now be renovated and re-opened," the Planning Department stated in its analysis report. "It should be noted that this property, even while boarded, has been very well-maintained."

In addition, an adjacent 16-unit apartment block at 7 Lillian Street, which is occupied and in continual use, will also be undergoing renovations, the Planning Department stated.

Conditions for the State Street block include the property must be maintained free of graffiti, litter and overgrowth; tree belts must be maintained properly; and development must occur in accordance with the submitted plans.

In a separate hearing, the City Council will hear a proposal from GF Enterprises for a Taco Bell Restaurant at 2433 Main St., in the North End, with a drive-up service window.

The property, located at the intersection of Main and Morgan streets, is a vacant lot that was used for parking and equipment.

The developer revised plans, as urged by the Planning Department, in order to have direct pedestrian access from Main Street to the new Taco Bell and to have the drive-up window and lane wrapping around the back of the building, according to the department's analysis.

Under several conditions, the design plans, as revised, must be adhered to, and Public Works review and approval will be needed. There are also conditions for proper maintenance, signage and a ban on loitering.

There is also a hearing for a proposed car repair and used car sale business at 927 Boston Road. The applicant is Usman Sheikh.

The site is the former location of an automotive repair shop, currently vacant, according to the Planning Department. The department recommends approval of the permit, but with a requirement that an existing fence and vegetative buffer be kept between the business and an adjacent house.

Chicopee police arrested 21-year-old Bryan Rae Jr. Friday night. Since then, Ludlow police arrested four other men.

LUDLOW - Police said arrested five men over the weekend in a case that involves counterfeit money, stolen firearms and drugs.

Sgt. Daniel Valadas said the investigation began Friday as police searched for 21-year-old Ludlow resident Bryan Rae Jr. who was wanted on numerous charges, including stealing four handguns from Ludlow home.

Rae was arrested in Chicopee Friday night.

On Saturday, detectives arrested 19-year-old Davin Kendall and 18-year-old Justin Danek, both of Ludlow.

Police arrested Ludlow residents Jordan Quitero, 25, and David Texeira, 35, on Sunday.

Rae was charged with three felony warrants for 19 criminal charges and possession of a Class E drug. He was ordered held in lieu of $165,000 cash bail.

Kendall was charged with 44 criminal charges including four counts of larceny of a firearm, possession of a large capacity firearm, breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony, possession of a Class A drug with intent to distribute.

Kendall was ordered held in lieu of $50,000 cash bail.

Danek was arrested on 11 criminal charges, including breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony and four counts of larceny of a firearm. He was ordered held in lieu of $5,000 cash bail.

Quiterio was arrested on 14 criminal charges, including OUI drugs and possession of a Class A drug with intent to distribute. He was ordered held in lieu of $25,000 cash bail.

Texiera was arrested on 15 criminal charges, including four counts of larceny of a firearm and breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony. He was ordered held in lieu of $10,000 cash bail.

This is a developing story. Additional information will be posted as soon as it is available.

All three suspects were charged with trafficking fentanyl.

Barnstable police said they brought down a well-known heroin trafficker last week following an extensive investigation in Hyannis. 

For the past three months, authorities have conducted an investigation targeting Brian Whittemore, 56, of Hyannis and his residence on Skating Rink Road. 

"Whittemore and Whittemore's residence are well known to BPD Detectives and have been the target of multiple past drug investigations," police said. 

Following extensive surveillance and several undercover purchases, police were able to identify Whittemore's fentanyl supplier, Jason McCarthy, 37, of New Bedford. 

Last Wednesday, authorities say they witnessed Whittemore and McCarthy pull up in their vehicles to the end of a small residential side street, near Route 6 and Route 132. The meeting was brief, lasting no more than 30 or 30 seconds, police said. 

Afterwards, both vehicles left the scene and were promptly stopped by Barnstable police. 

A search of the vehicles turned up 11 grams of fentanyl and over $900 in cash. Police also discovered a passenger in McCarthy's vehicle, 43-year-old Jennifer Boucher, of New Bedford. 

Boucher was found in possession of 3 baggies of crack cocaine, police said. 

All three suspects were charged with trafficking fentanyl. Boucher was also charged with possession and distribution of cocaine. 

Authorities said both Whittemore and McCarthy have extensive criminal records consisting of numerous convictions and drug violations. 

The acting governor will join director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Kurt Schwartz, other MEMA officials and local officials.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito plans to visit Conway on Monday to tour the damage from Saturday evening's tornado.

Polito is the acting governor, with Gov. Charlie Baker in Washington for a meeting of the National Governors Association.

According to her public schedule, Polito will join director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Kurt Schwartz, other MEMA officials and local officials to inspect damage and recovery efforts and to thank emergency first responders. She will be at Conway Town Hall at 1 p.m.

According to the National Weather Service, the tornado touched down in Conway and in Goshen on Saturday night. It caused damage to at least 12 homes.

There were no reports of injuries. Although there were power outages, power was fully restored by Monday morning.

The hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m. at Springfield City Hall in the school committee chambers.

The public is invited to attend a hearing this Tuesday, February 28, to give input on the nomination of Springfield attorney Claudine Wyner to a seat on the Hampden County Division of the Probate and Family Court.

Governor's Councilor Mary Hurley has been holding hearings in Western Massachusetts on local judicial nominees, to give the public an easier opportunity to testify. Wyner's official confirmation hearing before the Governor's Council will be held at the Statehouse on March 8.

Tuesday's hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m. at Springfield City Hall in the school committee chambers.

Wyner has practiced at the Springfield law firm of Marien & Hodge for 15 years, focusing on family law, including divorce and special education cases.

The public is invited to learn more about efforts to build a new public school facility.

EASTHAMPTON -- Residents seeking more information about efforts to build a new public school facility are invited to an informational forum on Tuesday evening.

Members of the Easthampton School Building Committee will present an update. They will be joined by architects from Caolo & Bienek Associates and by project managers from Colliers International. 

Presenters will include Superintendent Nancy Follansbee, School Committee Chairwoman Deb Lusnia; School Building Committee Chairman Tom Brown; and Dayle Doiron, business manager for the city's schools.

The committee has been working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority and recently completed a comprehensive feasibility study.

The committee and the MSBA have decided to pursue a consolidated facility that would house pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students. The facility would be located at the site of the current White Brook Middle School.

If the MSBA invites the city into the funding pipeline, a portion of the school's construction costs would be reimbursed by the state.

No construction would move forward without voters approving a debt exclusion measure at the ballot box, officials have said.

Each of the city's three elementary schools are more than 100 years old, and White Brook Middle School is in poor condition, according to the feasibility study.

If you go:

What: Easthampton School Building Committee Informational Forum
When: Tuesday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m.
Where: 50 Payson Ave. Municipal Building

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker repeatedly expressed his disappointment last year that Donald Trump was the Republican nominee for president. But on Sunday night he snagged a seat next to the president's daughter, Ivanka.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker repeatedly expressed his disappointment last year that Donald Trump was the Republican nominee for president. He blanked the ballot in November.

But on Sunday night he snagged a seat next to the president's daughter, Ivanka, at the annual black-tie Governors' Ball in the White House.

The Associated Press reported Ivanka Trump had Baker on one side and Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin on the other. The wire service said the governors and other guests sat at "long tables topped with white floral centerpieces and candles in the State Dining Room."

"I can say that after four weeks -- it's been a lot of fun -- but we've accomplished almost everything we've started out to accomplish. The borders are stricter, tighter," President Trump said at the dinner, the wire service reported.

"We're very happy with the way things are working but, again, we've made a lot of promises over the last two years and many of those promises already are kept so we're very honored by that," Trump added.

Baker has been in Washington, D.C. since Friday, attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Association and a meeting of the Coalition of Northeastern Governors.

The governors had lunch with Vice President Mike Pence on Friday at the Naval Observatory.

President Trump is meeting with the governors on Monday morning.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

The Belchertown resident is charged with trespassing and breaking and entering.

AMHERST -- Police arrested a 34-year-old Belchertown man early Sunday morning after he was found sleeping in the downtown Starbucks when a barista opened in the morning.

John Paul Varnasse was charged with trespassing and breaking and entering. Police said he entered the downtown coffee shop through an unlocked door sometime overnight.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown.