Prosecutors allege Quiles, 34, pointed an air gun at the woman and others with her with whom he had a history of conflict; the woman had a heart attack and subsequently died.

The Republican / File photo

SPRINGFIELD — A 34-year-old city man pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Hampden Superior Court to involuntary manslaughter in a case in which a 71-year-old woman died of a heart attack more than a year ago.

He is, in essence, accused of scaring her to death.

Jose Quiles was indicted on the involuntary manslaughter charge late last month in relation to the death of Rosauro Flores-Rodriguez on March 20, 2011.

Prosecutors allege Quiles pointed an air gun, which looked just like a real gun, at the woman and others with her with whom he had a history of conflict. The incident on Kendall Street happened March 8, 2011. Flores-Rodriguez was hospitalized, and died March 20.

Quiles is held in lieu of $75,000 bail in the manslaughter case.

The prosecution of Quiles for the incident has taken a complicated trajectory.

Quiles was arraigned in Hampden Superior Court on Nov. 19 on four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Those charges allege he pointed the gun at the woman and others.

That case is still pending.

But the indictment for involuntary manslaughter from the same incident came much later, in part because prosecutors say they were waiting for all the medical information about Flores-Rodriguez

Joseph A. Franco, Quiles’ lawyer, said Quiles denies he pointed the toy gun at Flores-Rodriguez.

He said she had a serious medical condition and Quiles did not contribute to it.

The prosecution contends Flores-Rodriguez’ level of fear was great because of the previous history of conflict involving Quiles and her family members.

Pointing what appeared to be a real and working gun at a 71-year-old woman, the state contends, showed such a high disregard of probable consequences it fits a theory of involuntary manslaughter.

Investors have worried that job growth is fading, but they were encouraged by a Labor Department report that applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week.

By JOSHUA FREED | AP Business Writer

Associated PressNetworking gear maker Cisco Systems plunged 10.5 percent after warning that technology spending appears to be slowing and that its revenue would rise much less than analysts expected this quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial average broke a six-day losing streak Thursday, notching a small gain after the government released better unemployment numbers.

The Dow rose 19.98 points to close at 12,855.04, after rising almost 100 points earlier in the day. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.41 points to close at 1,357.99.

Before Thursday, the Dow had fallen six days in a row, its longest losing streak since August.

Investors have worried that job growth is fading. They were encouraged by a Labor Department report that applications for unemployment benefits dropped 1,000 to 367,000 in the week ending May 5.

That pulled the four-week average, which economists watch more closely, down to 379,000 — closer to the 375,000 level, which suggests job growth is strong enough to reduce the unemployment rate.

Eight out of 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose, with only materials and technology stocks declining. Utilities were the biggest gainers, up 0.9 percent, followed by health care and consumer staples.

Tech stocks closed down 0.8 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 1.07 points to 2,933.64. Networking gear maker Cisco Systems plunged 10.5 percent after warning that technology spending appears to be slowing and that its revenue would rise much less than analysts expected this quarter. Hardware maker Oracle fell 2.7 percent.

Stocks also benefited from news that Spain would take over Bankia SA, the country's fourth-largest bank, which has high exposure to bad property loans. The government hopes to convince investors that Spain won't need a bailout. The yield on Spain's 10-year debt fell 0.12 percentage points to 5.95 percent — meaning its borrowing costs fell slightly because of reduced worries about its debt.

Spain's IBEX 35 index jumped 3.4 percent.

"Europe's problems are by no means being solved. But the feeling that there is some support there probably helps sentiment a little bit," said Ed Hyland, a global investment specialist with J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

Other European stocks rose, too. Britain's FTSE 100 closed 0.3 percent higher, and Germany's DAX rose 0.7 percent.

Other U.S. stocks on the move:

• Pfizer rose 1.7 percent after the drugmaker got preliminary approval for an arthritis drug.

• Avon fell 3.3 percent after beauty products maker Coty Inc. raised its offer to buy Avon but also said it will withdraw the latest bid if it doesn't get a response by the close of business Monday. Some analysts have been saying Avon is worth more.

• Kohl's fell 4.3 percent after price-cutting led to a 23 percent drop in its first-quarter profit.

Oil prices rose 8 cents to $96.89 per barrel.

Jewish, Islamic and Catholic leaders joined Chaplain Becky Jones in blessing the chapel.

File photo | The RepublicanCooley Dickinson Hospital has a new chapel

NORTHAMPTON — With songs and prayers, a gathering of local healers both spiritual and physical dedicated a new chapel at Cooley Dickinson Hospital on Thursday.

The Gugger Family Memorial Chapel was conceived as a place where patients, their family and staff can go for quiet contemplation in times of need. It replaces a chapel that was located a floor above it in a hard-to-find part of the hospital. The new chapel sits at ground level outside Cooley Dickinson’s healing garden, a quite, landscaped space.

The chapel project was spearheaded by Dr. Brock Lynch, a retired cancer surgeon who worked at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and made the major donation for the creation of the chapel. It is named after his late brother-in-law, Vincent Daniel Gugger, who died in 2009. Gugger’s wife Barbara, who is also Lynch’s sister, was at the ceremony along with six of the couple’s seven children.

The centerpiece of the chapel is a 1,400-pound slab of Goshen stone donated by the Goshen Stone Company. According to hospital officials, the gray, brown and blue piece of rock is more than 480 million years old.

Chaplain Becky Jones, who spoke at the dedication, said the stone was chosen in lieu of a religious icon in the hope that it will speak to people of all religious persuasions.

“We wanted the chapel to be a place that would be welcoming to people of all faiths and of no faith,” she said.

Jewish, Islamic and Catholic leaders joined Jones in blessing the chapel. The Rev. Andrea Ayvazian of the Haydenville Congregational Church told the crowd of about 50 that she hopes it will be “a sanctuary for those seeking safety, quiet and rest.”

Lynch, who is a tenor in the Young@Heart Chorus, spoke briefly about his brother-in-law, who served on a submarine during World War II. Gugger’s wife said her husband was loving, kind and gentle.

Springfield firefighters are on the scene of a hazardous-materials alert on Shaine Circle, a Springfield Housing Authority property off Carew Street in the Liberty Heights neighborhood.

SPRINGFIELD - Springfield firefighters are on the scene of a hazardous-materials alert on Shaine Circle, a Springfield Housing Authority property off Carew Street in the Liberty Heights neighborhood.

A resident of one of the apartments alerted management that someone dropped an envelope containing an unknown powder through the mailslot on his front door, said Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant.

Leger said the regional hazardous materials team has been called to the scene to help determine what the powder is and what level of cleanup will be necessary.

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The maps will be sold at the Town Hall and the CVS on Boston Road.

Mary Bell, left. of the Wilbraham Public Library is handed a flyer by 250th anniversary committee member Nancy Haryasz advertising this weekend's townwide tag sale.

WILBRAHAM - Maps for Saturday’s townwide tag sale will be sold at the Town Hall and the CVS on Boston Road.

They will be available starting at 8 a.m. that day.

Tag sale goers can follow a route and visit each tag sale noted on the map, going from sale to sale.

The tag sale is a fund-raiser to support town-sponsored activities centered around the celebration of Wilbraham’s 250th anniversary in 2013.

The man, 24-year-old Jaylu Laboy of 31 Nye Street, "hasn't turned up yet, alive or dead," Sgt. John Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said in an interview Thursday.

Springfield Police Department photoJaylu Laboy

SPRINGFIELD — Authorities are continuing their search for a Springfield man who evaded police on foot in the early morning hours Sunday and jumped off the North End Bridge into the cold waters of the Connecticut River.

The man, 24-year-old Jaylu Laboy of 31 Nye St., "hasn't turned up yet, alive or dead," Sgt. John Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said in an interview Thursday.

"There's a small possibility" that he made it to shore, Delaney said. "Stranger things have happened."

If Laboy died in the fall, he wouldn't be declared dead until a body is recovered.

Laboy was involved in a foot chase with Springfield police officers Angel Marrero and Orlando Acevedo around 4 a.m. Sunday after the pair was dispatched to 39 Lowell Street in the Brightwood neighborhood for a reported breaking and entering.

"Upon their arrival they were confronted by a shirtless male in the middle of the street in a fighting stance," Delaney said in a statement issued on Monday. "He was facing a male and female in a confrontation."

The officers exited the cruiser to calm the situation, Delaney said, but Laboy ran into the residence and then ran out the back door.

Marrero caught up with Laboy in the parking lot near 101 Lowell St. and tackled him to the ground. As Marrero tried to call for backup, Laboy put his hand into the officer's mouth "and attempted to rip his mouth sideways," according to Delaney.

Laboy broke free when Marrero was finally able to call for help.

The officers then chased Laboy to Riverside Road and along the river.

“The officers kept [Laboy] in sight and observed him take some more clothes off and jump into the Connecticut River. The officers repeatedly called out to the suspect to return to shore. [...] The current was swift and the water extremely cold,” Delaney said.

The Springfield Fire Department was called to initiate a rescue. A four-hour search of the river did not turn up Laboy.

In Monday's statement, Delaney said investigators feared Laboy drowned.

Witnesses at 39 Lowell St. stated that Laboy attempted to kick in the front and rear door. When he was not allowed entry, he broke into the home through a side window, Delaney said.

Laboy's girlfriend told officers that Laboy had been with her during the day and had been drinking, according to Delaney.

Charges are pending against Laboy, including for the reported breaking and entering and his alleged assault on Officer Marrero.

The Agawam and West Springfield police departments were notified of the incident.

Anyone with further information is asked to contact the Springfield Police Department's Detective Bureau at 413-787-6355.

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In Hampden County, the region's largest housing market, sales rose 45.2 percent, but the median price fell 7.5 percent.

Associated PressIn a on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 photo, signs for sold newly-constructed town homes are seen at a development in Pepper Pike, Ohio. The Commerce Department says new-home sales fell 1.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 313,000 homes. Sales have fallen nearly 7 percent since December. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

SPRINGFIELD — Driven by low mortgage rates and an improving economy, sales of single family homes rose 30.4 percent last month, according to statistics released this week by the Realtor Association of Pioneer Valley.

There were 253 homes sold in April 2011 and 330 sold in April 2012.

But increasing demand hasn’t cut into the supply of homes for sale enough to drive up prices, said Barry N. Boccasile, director of growth and development for Park Square Realty and manager of its Westfield office.

“There still is a lot of inventory,” Boccasile said. “People are really shopping around.”

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He said a relatively mild winter also got people out and looking for homes earlier than normal.

According to the Realtor Association of Pioneer Valley, the median price paid for single family homes in the Pioneer Valley fell 9.5 percent from $180,100 in April 2011 to $163,000.

“The buyers who are out there are good buyers who have gotten their pre-approvals for a mortgage and are ready to go,” said Karen C. King, a realtor with Karen King Group at Re/Max Prestige in Wilbraham. “On the other hand it is a buyer’s market and they are still in control of the negotiation in so many ways,”

She said buyers are putting in offers, but those offers are often lower than asking prices.

“And in many cases they are getting what they are looking for,” King said.

Banks are still selling foreclosed-upon homes at steep discounts and homeowners in danger of defaulting are also making short-sales — sales of homes for less than what is owed on the mortgage. Both types of sales keep prices low.

King said low interest rates are spurring buyers who qualify.

According to FreddieMac.com, the average rate on 30-year loans ticked down to 3.83 percent this week. That is below the previous record rate of 3.84 percent reached last week.

In Hampden County, the region’s largest housing market, sales rose 45.2 percent from 166 homes in April 2011 to 241 in April 2012. The median price fell 7.5 percent from $160,000 to $148,000.

In Hampshire County, sales rose 18.2 percent from 55 to 65. The median price fell 7.2 percent from $263,266 in April 2011 to $245,000 in April 2012.

In Franklin County, sales fell 25 percent from 32 in April 2011 to 24 in April 2012. The median price fell 10.2 percent from $187,500 to $168,450.

Since April 2005, home prices have fallen 17.2 percent from $196,950 to $163,000.

Elizabeth Warren, Brown's chief Democratic rival, has called for full legal equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizens while the Massachusetts Republican, when pushed on the topic, has defended his push to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

File photo by Charles Krupa / Associated PressFILE - In this Jan. 19, 2012, file photo U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., shakes hands and signs autographs for supporters during his re-election campaign kick-off in Worcester, Mass. Republicans' clear shot at winning control of the Senate is attracting tens of millions of dollars from GOP-allied outside groups eager to spend on a surer bet than the White House race. Control of the U.S. Senate will hinge on some tight races, including the Massachusetts race, seen by Democrats as one of their best chances of unseating one of the newest Republican senators, Brown. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

One day after President Barack Obama completed his "evolution" on the subject of same-sex marriage, coming out with striking support for marriage equality, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown found himself under fire for what critics call a "troubling" history on gay rights issues.

Elizabeth Warren, Brown's chief Democratic rival, has called for full legal equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizens while the Massachusetts Republican, when pushed on the topic, has said the election isn't about social issues but rather jobs and the economy.

During a conference call organized by the Massachusetts Democratic Party Thursday afternoon, Brown was criticized for legislation he has supported as well as bills he has opposed which LGBT activists say has negatively impacted the community.

“Now that it’s an election year, Scott Brown is claiming to be an independent thinker, but the simple fact is that his anti-equality positions are more in line with Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and the Republican Party than Massachusetts families,” said State Rep. Liz Malia, D-Suffolk. “As someone who knew Scott Brown as a colleague in the Massachusetts legislature, I know that Scott Brown has a long, long history of opposing LGBT equality. Massachusetts wouldn't have led the way for marriage equality if Scott Brown got his way."

Malia was referring to Brown's 2004 vote for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts after the Supreme Judicial Court legalized it a year prior, becoming the first state in the nation to do so. Since that vote as a state senator, Brown has reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage but called it a settled issue in Massachusetts and following the presidents statement this week, Brown said it is an issue that should be tackled by each state.

Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the pro-LGBT rights Family Equality Council, said she believes Brown's view of gay and lesbians would change if he made an effort to get to know some such families.

"Next week, we have LGBT families from across the country coming to Washington to educate Congressmen about the issues important to us, but Sen. Brown has refused to meet with us," Chrisler said. "It is obvious that he is not a man who understands or cares to know the LGBT families he claims to represent."

Wes Ritchie, organizing director for pro-LGBT rights group MassEquality, said Brown's refusal to stand with the rest of the Massachusetts delegation to participate in an "It Gets Better" video aimed at uplifting bullied LGBT teens, highlights his "lack of outreach to the LGBT community.

“Scott Brown was the only member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation who declined to lend his voice to a video letting LGBT young people know that life gets better,” said Ritchie. “He continues to say that he has an independent voice, but when it comes to sticking up for gay and lesbian families and standing against bullying he has shown that he has no voice at all.”

The group also took aim at Brown for supporting the federal Defense of Marriage Act which defines marriage as an institution between a man and a woman.

"His opposition to full marriage rights affects me as a taxpayer," Malia said. "We are talking about legal rights. My partner is laid off and we are in different tax situations. This affects us. He won't address LGBT issues and only wants to talk about jobs and economics, but it is related."

Brown's decision not to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prevent employers from discriminating on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, was also criticized by the group.

When asked about the accusations of the group, Brown's campaign spokesman Colin Reed reiterated what a Senate aide said the day before in relation to Brown's stance on same-sex marriage.

"Gay marriage has been settled law in Massachusetts for nearly a decade, and Scott Brown believes that individual states should be able to decide this issue," Reed said. "He believes all people should be treated with dignity and respect. With nearly 23 million Americans out of work, Scott Brown’s top priority is putting people back to work and getting this economy going again."

Relating to LGBT issues, Brown did vote to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy which prohibited lesbians and gay people from openly serving in the military. He was one of the few Republicans who voted to lift the ban, a move earning him an honor from the Log Cabin Republicans, a group which promotes equality for gay and lesbian citizens.

McCarthy said he will support smaller government and lower taxes if elected to Beacon Hill.

A Wilbraham Republican is planning to run against Democratic Rep. Angelo J. Puppolo Jr. in the November election.

D. John McCarthy, a member of the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee, said he will support "smaller government and lower taxes" if elected to the two-year term. He said he is also interested in education.

"If the government is smaller, it does less and taxes can be lower," McCarthy said. "You have more liberty and individual freedoms that way."

D. John McCarthy

A spokesman for the Secretary of State's office said that both McCarthy and Puppolo have been qualified to appear on the ballot. Neither would have any opposition in the Sept. 6 primary. The two would square off in the Nov. 6 election.

Puppolo, 43, a lawyer is in his third term on Beacon Hill, was previously a member of the Springfield City Council for almost 10 years.

Puppolo, who lives in Springfield, said he has not heard much about McCarthy but anyone is entitled to run.

"I'm going to run on my record," said Puppolo, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. "I think I've been doing a good job representing the 12th Hampden District."

Angelo Puppolo

Puppolo said he is prepared for a challenge with about $225,000 in his campaign account. McCarthy said he realizes he is not going to match Puppolo dollar-for-dollar on campaign spending.

Puppolo said he has a full-time district office in Wilbraham as part of his service to constituents.

McCarthy, 64, who is married with one teenage son, retired from Fuji Photo Film USA after 28 years. He was in the marketing department.

McCarthy said he is semi-retired and currently runs a part-time business as a pet photographer.

McCarthy served a little less than 25 years in the U.S. Marine and Navy Reserves. He said he received a bachelor's degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and separate master's degrees in education and business administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

The district includes Wilbraham, about 25 percent of East Longmeadow and Springfield including parts of Forest Park, East Forest Park, Sixteen Acres and the Outer Belt in the city.

John McCarthy

Patrick had initially resisted the program, but said local police would continue the practice of submitting information to the FBI, and that he hoped recently announced tweaks to the program would safeguard it against putting people in fear.

Protesters wearing handcuffs holds up signs urging the stop of the "Secure Communities" program, or "S Comm", at a news conference held by Massachusetts county sheriffs at the Statehouse in Boston recently.

By Andy Metzger, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON -- While Gov. Deval Patrick is resigned to participating in the federal government’s Secure Communities program, immigrant rights advocates said it will force undocumented immigrants into hiding from local law enforcement.

Secure Communities uses FBI fingerprint data, submitted by local police to determine the identities of individuals who are arrested, and crosschecks it against the Immigration Custom Enforcement agency’s database.

Patrick had initially resisted the program, but said local police would continue the practice of submitting information to the FBI, and that he hoped recently announced tweaks to the program would safeguard it against putting people in fear.

“I think it’s very important here that people not see this as a license to profile. It is about public safety and there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it, and I will say the federal government seems to have responded to some of the concerns that we in Massachusetts and in other states have expressed,” Patrick told reporters.

Immigrant groups called on Patrick Thursday to take executive action to resist the federal program but Patrick appeared resigned to its implementation, which is scheduled to begin May 15.

“I am going to uphold the law,” Patrick said Thursday.

Patrick said the state has long known that the Department of Homeland Security would eventually roll out the program in Massachusetts, but he said it’s always been about the FBI sharing fingerprints with immigration officials, which is not an issue the state has control over.

“It’s not a surprise. It was always going to be rolled out. What shouldn’t have been rolled out and what I refused to do is to use it as an opportunity to gin up unnecessary fear in communities whose cooperation with law enforcement is important to public safety,” Patrick said.

Opponents have argued that the program acts as a dragnet, deporting people on immigration violations before they have been convicted of a crime.

Between October 2008 and September 2011, ICE deported about 11 percent of the 3,435 immigrants who were in Suffolk County illegally and had been convicted of a past offense, according to ICE data. However, only a little more than half of those 395 people deported had been convicted of a crime, according to ICE. Another 18 percent had ICE warrants and about 13 percent had been deported before.

Rep. Denise Provost (D-Somerville) called the program “a misuse of federal power” that usurps local control over selecting which arrestees are turned over to immigration officials, and said that Somerville mothers had been separated from their children and deported under the program.

“It reminds me of the days of slavery when family members were taken from each other to be sold south,” Provost said at a press conference at SEIU Local 615 in Boston Thursday afternoon. “I think what we call illegal immigration is the new economic slavery. Now we just induce slaves to import themselves.”

Provost and others blamed the federal government for not passing a broad immigration reform. That is a charge that has been lobbed from both sides of the debate, as Arizona and Alabama recently made immigration violations part of state jurisdiction because of what was seen as lax enforcement.

The federal government challenged Arizona’s law, bringing it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, among worries that by mandating that local police enforce immigration law it would lead to racial profiling, but the new federal program in Massachusetts has no such provisions.

Asked whether he thought the program would encourage racial profiling, Patrick said, “It better not be.”

In fact, ICE claims it tamps down racial profiling because anyone arrested and fingerprinted is checked through the database.

Boston participated in a pilot program of Secure Communities and the program launched nationwide in 2008, but it has not yet been spread throughout the state. Most of the country participates in the program but Massachusetts has two New England neighbors – Maine and Vermont – that do not participate yet either, according to an ICE report.

“Secure Communities has proven to be the single most valuable tool in allowing the agency to eliminate the ad hoc approach of the past and focus on criminal aliens and repeat immigration law violators,” said ICE spokesman Ross Feinstein, in a statement. “In fiscal year 2011, for the first time ever, 55 percent of all of ICE’s removals were convicted criminals and over 90 percent of all removals clearly fell into one of ICE’s categories for priority enforcement.”

Among the concerns about the program, is that undocumented immigrants will shirk the police, even when they could be useful in reporting or helping to solve a crime.

“We need the trust, and that is exactly the opposite of what [Secure Communities] is suggesting,” said Jack Cole, a former New Jersey state police detective and co-founder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. “It is the antithesis of what we need as police officers.”

That is particularly threatening to people in abusive relationships, where a tormenter can wield the threat of the police and deportation, said Mary Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc.

“The reality is that victims… are arrested every day in this country for crimes that they did not commit because that is the strategy of perpetrator,” Lauby said.

ICE did not immediately respond to questions on Thursday.

Patrick said that he has concerns but said he would not impede the program, as activists had requested.

“I think the federal government took a lot of the lessons and concerns that were expressed here and in other states,” Patrick told reporters. “The point is to make sure that it isn’t implemented in a way that places in fear people who aren’t the intended targets.”

[Michael Deehan and Matt Murphy contributed reporting]

The committee will need to review the strategies outline in the 2008 report.

Republican file photoMunicipal Building Easthampton

EASTHAMPTON – In 2008, the city adopted a Master Plan charting the city’s growth over the next two decades.

Now, the city is looking for people willing to step in to look at that plan that addressed topics such as housing, economic development and open space, to see what’s been accomplished and set goals and priorities for the next 16 years.

City Planner Jessica Jo Allan has issued a call for volunteers willing to be part of the Master Plan Implementation Committee.

The goal is for this to become a standing committee, she said, able to look at four or five goals each year and work with the appropriate board or committees such as the planning or zoning boards, for example, that oversee the particular area under review.

The committee needs to “go through the list of strategies, check out what’s happened, prioritize the next level.”

Some of those strategies have already been accomplished, she said.
Strategies including extending the Manhan Rail Trail to Northampton, Southampton, Nonotuck Park and city schools, expanding the city's Website, and establishing an Energy and Sustainability Commission.

The rail trail to Northampton is open, work is finished on the link to Southampton, for example of goals already met.

She said they are looking for people who have experience in areas such as housing, economic development, recreation, energy among other areas.

They are looking for people with energy, “who have a comprehensive vision (to look at) how different pieces of the plan fit.”

She said creating this committee was something former planner Stuart Beckley said was key to implement as he was leaving the city. Allen, the former principal planner for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission before she was hired here earlier this year, was the facilitator for the master planning process here. She is eager to see the committee in place to move the plan forward.

Those interested are asked to contact Allen by calling 529-1406 or sending an email to allanj@easthampton.org.

School bake sales are back after Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday said he would support a legislative effort keep the cupcakes frosted, and the Department of Public Health reversed course on its proposed ban.

File photo | The RepublicanThis 2005 Republican file photo shows 5th graders in Westfield promoting a school bake sale.

By Matt Murphy, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON - School bake sales are back after Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday said he would support a legislative effort keep the cupcakes frosted, and the Department of Public Health reversed course on its proposed ban.

“Nobody’s interested in banning bake sales. We are interested in student nutrition and good choices,” Patrick told reporters on Thursday shortly before DPH, an agency under his control, announced it would amend its regulations banning the tasty fundraisers.

The House on Wednesday approved an amendment to a spending bill that takes the authority to ban bake sales during school hours out of the hands of the Department of Public Health and gives it to local school officials. The Senate agreed to that language on Thursday. Simultaneously, the Department of Public Health announced that it would present emergency amendments to its regulations at the June meeting of the Public Health Council to reverse the bake-sale decision. The ban was a part of regulations authorized by a school nutrition law approved by the Legislature that will remove candy and other unhealthy foods from school cafeterias and vending machines.

The regulations are scheduled to go into effect on August 1.

Patrick said he thought the DPH was simply trying to implement what it understood to be the intent of the school nutrition bill passed by the Legislature in July 2010. He said now that the Legislature had taken actions to “clarify that intent” the issue could be resolved.

“The School Nutrition standards have always been about reducing childhood obesity in Massachusetts and protecting our kids from the serious long-term health impacts that obesity can cause,” DPH Commissioner John Auerbach said in a statement. “At the direction of Governor Patrick, the Department will seek to remove these provisions. We hope to return the focus to how we can work together to make our schools healthy environments in which our children can thrive.”

Though the actions by the governor and the DPH appeared to eliminate the need for the Legislature to act, the issue still carried over to the floor of the Senate where Sen. Michael Knapik, a Westfield Republican, called the idea of banning bake sales “downright un-American.”

“We have more important things to debate in state government, but sometimes the elected representatives have to step in and make things right,” Knapik said.

Other senators argued that bake sales were important fundraising tools for cash-strapped public schools to support additional programming for students.

During debate, Sen. Susan Fargo, a former teacher, also said she "can't stand MCAS" and ripped the decline in time spent by students in recess and engaged in physical activity.

Sen. John Keenan (D-Quincy) said it was interesting that the Department of Public Health saw fit to regulate bake sales while doing nothing about the designer drug known as bath salts, imploring public health officials to focus on the drugs that are “wreaking havoc in our neighborhoods.”

Artist Lisa Hoke is fascinated by the relationship between advertising and culture. Commercial images, she said, are often tied in people’s minds to specific periods of the nation’s history.

SPRINGFIELD – A profusion of colors undulates across a wall, swirling, protruding, receding, spiraling between sculpture and bas-relief.

This is “Love, American Style,” an enormous installation by artist Lisa Hoke at the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield through May 26, 2013.

The exhibition is made up of thousands of pieces of familiar packaging and advertising – the greens of Swiffer and Gatorade, the reds of Coca Cola and popcorn boxes, the pink of Good & Plenty candy, the colors of tissue boxes, paper plates, plastic cups, matchbooks, wrappers and other ephemera.

Hoke, who lives in New York, was in Springfield Friday to talk about the things that some people throw away – and that she turns into art.

“Paper cups give me infinite patterns,” she said.

She keeps her finds in bins in her studio, arranged by color. She works out her visions on the floor (“totally spontaneous,” she said – no sketches ahead of time), delivers them in sections when she has a show, and puts the final product together on site.

Hoke collects her materials in quantity, often using the same image over and over again to create something entirely new.

For example, at one point museum-goers will see the same color ads for French fries radiating concentrically like a dazzling yellow dandelion with a four-foot head.

Sometimes Hoke includes logos and brand names, allowing the lettering to become part of the design. “It’s called appropriated art,” said Julia Courtney, director of art at the D’Amour Museum, who invited Hoke to the museum after reading about her in ArtNews.

Hoke is fascinated by the relationship between advertising and culture. Commercial images, she said, are often tied in people’s minds to specific periods of the nation’s history.

That gives a certain intimacy to her art. She looks for a balance between the intimate and the monumental, she said.

Hoke majored in English at the University of North Carolina, then studied art at Virginia Commonwealth University and Florida State University.

She moved to New York in 1980. “My art education began the day I moved to New York City,” she said.

She has had more than 20 solo exhibitions. Her work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum in New York, the New Orleans Museum of Art and other museums.

Hoke is married to filmmaker David Bemis. Their son, Matthew, attends Hampshire College in Amherst.

The D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts is at 21 Edwards St. Closed Mondays. Free parking. Admission fee ($12.50 for adults; discounts for seniors, students) allows entry to all museums on the Quadrangle.

Representatives from the region's police forces as well as from the FBI, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, state police and the associations for both the Massachusetts and the New England police chief's attended the retirement party for former Police Chief Thomas E. Burke.

Photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanJadwiga Burke shakes the hand of Ron Gibbons of the Massachusetts State Police as former West Springfield Police Chief Thomas E. Burke, center, looks on. Burke was honored at a retirement party at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House in Holyoke Wednesday evening.

HOLYOKE – Not only was retired West Springfield Police Chief Thomas E. Burke a cop’s cop, he is such a regular guy even his long-time barber was among the 500 people who crowded into his retirement party Wednesday at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House.

They came to fete and roast Burke and celebrate his 42 years with the West Side Police Department, 20 of them at its helm.

Jay B. Contrino, who used to cut Burke’s hair in his Agawam shop and now does it at Rich Gallerani Hair Design in West Side, had warm memories.

“I fixed him and his buddy up with long-haired wigs so they could go undercover,” Contrino, who has cut Burke’s hair since 1972, recalled of Burke’s early police days. “He’ll listen to your problems and if he can help you he will, very compassionate, very compassionate. If he weren’t Irish I’d think he was Sicilian.”

Interim West Springfield Police Chief Ronald P. Campurciani described his former boss as “ a cop’s cop.”

“Tom was always concerned about cops on the street and making sure they had the best training and equipment out there,” Campurciani said.

He called the high attendance at the party well deserved and pointed out that not only were there lots of members of the region’s police forces there, but also representatives from the FBI, the DEA, Massachusetts state police and the associations for both Massachusetts’ and New England’s police chiefs.

Burke, 67, retired in March two years after the mandatory state retirement age. The state legislature granted a waiver to allow him to work longer than that because former Mayor Edward J. Gibson wanted to keep him on longer because of his budget expertise.

In an interview before the party’s program, Burke talked about how he always tried to be fair.

“I believe totally in the community policing philosophy. We aren’t very different from the people we serve. We put our pants on one leg at a time,” Burke said.

Asked his proudest accomplishment, Burke named his four children, two of whom followed in his footsteps by becoming officers in the West Springfield Police Department. They are Alissa L. Burke, a juvenile detective and Patrolman Thomas E. Burke Jr. His daughter Kristen A. Coccia is a registered nurse and his youngest, Ania K. Burke just graduated from Northeastern University.

An analysis of the power on the scene determined it was acetaminophen, the main ingredient commonly found in over-the-counter pain medication,

The Republican | Patrick JohnsonMembers of the Western Massachusetts Regional Haz-Mat team carry a mysterious powder that was recovered from the business office of the Springfield Housing Authority complex on Shaine Circle. The power was determined to be harmless.

An update of this story was posted at 8:25 p.m. thursday

This is an update of a story originally published at 5:56 p.m. Thursday

SPRINGFIELD - A mysterious white powder that forced the evacuation of two buildings in an apartment complex at Shaine Circle Thursday evening was determined to be harmless, officials said.

The Western Massachusetts Regional Hazardous Materials team was called to the scene to remove the powder. An analysis of it on the scene determined it was acetaminophen, the main ingredient commonly found in over-the-counter pain medication, said Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant.

Powdered acetaminophen by itself is not dangerous, he said.

The apartment complex, off Carew Street, is part of the Springfield Housing Authority. It is next door to the Raymond Sullivan Public Safety Complex.

Resident Sixto Ayala of Unit 35 found two envelopes had been dropped through the mail slot on his front door. He opened one, found the powder, and carried the envelop over to the apartment complex's business office in Unit 30.

Both units were evacuated for more than an hour while Springfield firefighters and the regional Haz-Mat team worked to determine what the power was.

In addition, officials with the Department of Homeland Security were also dispatched to the scene. Leger said there have been at least four similar incidents in Massachusetts and Connecticut where an unknown power was delivered through the mail.

Leger said it is not clear who is responsible or it if was intended as a prank.

The incident remains under investigation.

Property manager Sonia Colon-Diaz said she called the police when Ayala brought her the powder because neither she nor Ayala knew what it was.

"We decided to be on the safe side," she said.

She said Ayala told her the envelope was not delivered as part of the mail. Someone went by his apartment and dropped it in the mail slot.

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Rodriguez said she is also cutting $34,000 from the budget for supplies, such as textbooks, and $6,500 from professional development, which refers to workshops or classes that enhance the growth of teachers.

The Republican file photoGranby voters on Monday will decide whether the town is one step closer to building a new junior-senior high school to replace the existing one shown here.

GRANBY – Schools superintendent Isabelina Rodriguez announced at a public forum on the school budget May 7 that she is proposing a budget of $10,552,218 for fiscal year 2013.

Meeting that number will require cutting several full-time and part-time jobs for a savings of $602,388, she said. Full-time cuts include a science teacher at the high school, a physical education teacher at the junior high school, three paraprofessionals and a custodian.

In some cases, the “cuts” will not draw blood. For example, a teacher at East Meadow Elementary School is retiring and will not be replaced, and a speech language therapist position that was already vacant will not be filled.

Also, the vice principal at Granby High School will be removed to serve as principal of West Street Elementary School temporarily, and existing jobs will be juggled to fill in his position at the high school. (Current West Street principal Pamela McCauley is retiring at the end of this year.)

Some positions on the list will have hours cut. For example, there will be a 35 percent reduction of secretarial support in the superintendent’s office.

Rodriguez said she is also cutting $34,000 from the budget for supplies, such as textbooks, and $6,500 from professional development, which refers to workshops or classes that enhance the growth of teachers.

She said she intends to hold another budget meeting for the public in June, after the state announces how much funding will be allotted to schools. Rodriguez expects Granby to get $40,000.

She is also waiting to find out how much the state will provide in “circuit-breaker” funds. This is a term the industry uses for reimbursement of “special education” students, children who are disabled. Educating them costs much more than it does the average student. Rodriguez is hoping to get back $290,000.

Even if all that comes through, Rodriguez said she is asking for $235,000 from the town to meet her budget.

The Select Board, which attended the meeting, questioned her afterwards. Member Mary McDowell asked about a rumor that the director of special education services was allowed to work on her doctoral degree on company time while drawing full-time pay.

Rodriguez vehemently denied the rumor, saying that the professional in question not only pursues the degree on her own time, but puts far more hours than required into her job at the Granby Schools.

Mark Bail, chairman of the Select Board, asked about a line item regarding an improvement workshop for School Committees and superintendents that meets annually on Cape Cod.

He was told that no one on the Granby School Committee is going. In fact, last year the funds allotted for that excursion were used instead to buy a new public address system for the high school.

Bail said afterwards that the school budget seems not to have fat for trimming.

Despite Charles' princely delivery, the royal forecast still amounted to rain, rain and more rain.

A screen capture from Prince Charles delivering the weather forecast Thursday over the BBC.

Viewers of the BBC Scotland were undoubtedly surprised Thursday when the midday weather forecast was delivered by Prince Charles.

Charles, first in line to be king and one of the more recognizable faces in England if not the world, was touring the BBC facilities in Glasgow, Scotland when he stepped up, apparently on a whim, to give the weather report, according to an article published in The Telegraph of London.

The only indication that something was up was when host Sally Magnusson announced: “Let's take a look at the weather forecast now. I’m delighted to say we’ve got a new member of our weather team - let me hand over to him now. Your Highness...”

TheTelegraph reports that Charles seemed bemused by the little clicker that the weathermen use to change the background graphic but that in a matter of moments he seemed to hit his stride.

The script was apparently doctored for the occasion to have the Prince highlight properties in Great Britain owned by the royal family, a fact that did not escape Charles' attention.

At one point, when he read of “the potential for a few flurries over Balmoral”, he interrupted to exclaim: “Who the hell wrote this script?”

Despite Charles' princely delivery, the royal forecast still amounted to rain, rain and more rain. Perhaps aware that the weatherman always gets some blame for bad weather, Charles closed his spot by quipping "“Thank God it isn’t a Bank Holiday.”

A spokeswoman from Charles's London home, Clarence House to the The Guardian of London that the prince "spends a lot of time in Scotland so he's very interested in the weather."

Longmeadow Department of Public Works needs a new garage and office space.

File photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanLongmeadow Department of Public Works Superintendent Michael Wrabel is seen outside the DPW garade in 2006.

LONGMEADOW – The Department of Public Works is seeking a large six acre property in town where they could build a new garage and offices for the department.

“The building we are in was built in the 1930s on the site of an old dump and we have major issues with sloping floors, flooding and a host of other problems,” said Department of Public Works Director Michael Wrabel.

A facility study conducted by Tighe & Bond in 2008 reported the present building does not meet the needs of the department and adapting the existing facility would require $1.5 million for the relocation of drainage and sewer mains, the excavation and removal of an old open burn dump, and flood-proofing to raise the facility out of the 100 year flood plain.

“That money is just to get the site ready, it would not include the cost of building a new larger facility,” Wrabel said.

He said among major problems with the current site is the fact that they are landlocked by railroad tracks, Interstate 91 and wetlands.

“We really need a new location and there are not many places in town where we could go,” he said.

The current garage is in deplorable condition with rusted support beams and slanting floors. Wrabel said several garage doors are broken and the space is too small to fit most of the equipment which now remains outdoors all year.

“Like with a regular car if you are able to keep the equipment inside it adds to the life of the vehicles. We have trucks and plows going out during storms and we cant bring them back and wash them off and let them thaw. All of the salt and sand stays on the vehicles and deteriorates them,” he said.

Currently the facility does not include enough conference rooms, locker rooms or office space. The consolidated maintenance staff for the town and schools is working out of a 1,300 square foot facility.

Wrabel could not say how much the town would be willing to pay for the facility, he said it would be based on the proposals that come in as well as approval from Town Meeting.

“Unfortunately it does fall on the back of the taxpayers and with the new high school we realize it’s a lot for residents to take on,” he said.

However Wrabel said the facility is an absolute necessity. The optimal site would fit a 48,000 square foot building that will house all operational divisions of the DPW including office space. Adequate space is needed for the administrative, engineering, highway, water, sewer, and grounds and building maintenance functions of the department.

Property owners interested in submitting a proposal should contact Procurement Manager Chad Thompson at (413) 565-4136.

Warren's campaign said the records from Rutgers and Texas bolster her argument that she was able to land a job at Harvard Law School in 1995 based on hard work and achievement, not claims of Native American heritage.

AP PhotoDemocratic candidate for U.S. Senate Elizabeth Warren faces reporters during a recent campaign stop at a diner in Shrewsbury.

BOSTON (AP) — Records show that the leading Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts identified her race as "white" on an employment record at the University of Texas and declined to apply for admission to Rutgers Law School under a program for minority students.

The records on Elizabeth Warren were obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday. Warren's heritage has been under scrutiny after it surfaced that she had listed herself as having Native American heritage in law school directories.

Warren's campaign said the records reinforce her earlier statements that she never relied on a claim of minority status to get teaching jobs. She has criticized the campaign of Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown for suggesting that might be the case.

A third document obtained by the AP Thursday indicated that the University of Pennsylvania, where Warren also worked, identified her as a minority professor.

Brown has called on Warren to release all law school applications and personnel files from the universities where she taught.

Warren worked at the University of Texas from 1983 to 1987, when she took a job at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

A report by a committee established to review the status of minority faculty at the University of Pennsylvania identifies Warren as a minority, however, without elaborating.

The new documents paint a fuller picture of Warren's law school record.

On the Rutgers application, Warren wrote "No" in response to the question: "Are you interested in applying for admission under the Program for Minority Group Students?"

Warren graduated from Rutgers in 1976.

On a personnel file from the University of Texas, Warren checked the box "White" when asked to select "the racial category or categories with which you most closely identify."

The categories included a box for "American Indian or Alaska Native," which Warren did not check.

Another document that surfaced Thursday is a 2005 report by a committee established to review the status of minority faculty at the University of Pennsylvania.

The report by the university's Minority Equity Committee includes a list of faculty members who worked at the school. Warren worked there as a law professor until 1995, when she left to take a job at Harvard Law School.

The report listed the names of minorities in bold and italics, and Warren's was included among those names. It indicated that Warren had won a teacher award at the school, and that only eight of the 112 awards give out during a 13-year span had gone to minority teachers.

Warren's campaign said the records from Rutgers and Texas bolster her argument that she was able to land a job at Harvard Law School in 1995 based on hard work and achievement, not claims of Native American heritage.

"At every law school where Elizabeth was recruited to teach, it has been made absolutely clear she was hired based on merit; on her accomplishments and ability," Warren spokeswoman Alethea Harney said in a statement Thursday.

"Documents from the college and law school from which she graduated show that Elizabeth did not seek special treatment by acknowledging her Native American heritage," Harney added.

Brown has said serious questions have been raised about Warren's claims to Native American ancestry and whether it was appropriate for her to assume minority status as a college professor, and that Warren should settle those questions by authorizing the release of her law school applications and all personnel files from the various universities where she has taught.

Harvard Law School professor Charles Fried has said that any suggestion that Warren enjoyed an affirmative action advantage in her hiring as a full professor is "false" and that Warren was recruited because of her expertise in bankruptcy and commercial law.

A Massachusetts genealogist said he uncovered evidence that Warren's great-great-great grandmother had listed herself as Cherokee in an 1894 document. That would make Warren a 1/32nd American Indian.

Warren has come under increasing scrutiny for listing her Native American heritage in law school directories.

Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Elizabeth Warren faces reporters during a news conference at Liberty Bay Credit Union headquarters, in Braintree, Mass., Wednesday, May 2, 2012. Warren responded to questions on her Native American heritage. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren was listed as a minority in the University of Pennsylvania’s “Minority Equity Report” in 2005.

The report was published years after Warren left the school. The publication listed past winners of its “Lindback Award,” and the names of minority professors were listed in bold and italics. Warren, who won the prize in 1994, was listed in the font used for minorities.

Warren taught at the University of Pennsylvania law school from 1987 to 1995.

Warren has come under increasing scrutiny for listing herself as a minority in a law school directory, the Association of American Law Schools, from 1986 until 1995, the year she was hired by Harvard Law School.

A genealogist has said Warren was 1/32 Cherokee, and Warren has said she is proud of her Native American lineage, but there has not been any proof of the claim.

Warren’s Republican opponent, U.S. Senator Scott Brown, has been questioning whether Warren misrepresented herself or gained any career advantages through her minority status.

The Warren campaign has released statements from professors and deans at each school Warren taught at, stating that her minority status was not a factor in her hiring.

The Boston Globe reported that Warren listed herself as “white” when she taught at the University of Texas law school from 1981 to 1991.