School staff reports also put the man outside Peck School and Donahue School.

File photo | The Republican

Updates a story posted Friday at 3:45 p.m.

HOLYOKE — Police responded to a report Friday of a man in a blue Hawaiian shirt trying to grab an 8-year-old girl outside Morgan School 596 Bridge St., though the girl was unhurt.

School staff reports also put the man outside Peck School, 1916 Northampton St., and Donahue School on Whiting Farms Road, Superintendent David L. Dupont said.

"We cancelled recesses and we cancelled after-school activities, and of course we've been in touch with the police," Dupont said.

Lt. Michael J. Higgins said police are investigating the morning incidents.

The incidents prompted the School Department to issue a mass message to homes via the Connect-ED phone system. The message said a stranger with questionable intent was seen on school property, police were called and appropriate actions were taken, though schools closed at regular times. The message didn't mention specific schools.

At Morgan, the report was that a man approached a girl from behind and put his hand on her.

"The girl was not harmed but she was scared," Dupont said.

A woman nearby screamed and the man fled, Higgins said.

"The woman who screamed is unknown to us because she took off, too," Higgins said.

Reports were that a man — variously described as tall, tan in complexion and wearing jeans and white sneakers, besides the blue Hawaiian shirt — walked up to a window at Donahue School, waved and ran, and was seen walking by Peck School, officials said.

Firefighters responded to 28 Pond Brook Road at about 1 p.m. to find the right side of the 2-story home engulfed in flames.

HUNTINGTON - A house on Pond Brook Road that was being renovated sustained heavy damage in a Friday afternoon fire, Fire Chief Gary Dahill said.

Firefighters responded to 28 Pond Brook Road at about 1 p.m. to find the right side of the 2-story home engulfed in flames, he said.

No one was injured, but the building sustained fire damage to the first and second floors and attic, he said.

It took an hour to knock down the flames and then another hour to look for remaining hot spots. Firefighters had to cut holes through the walls in search of flames, he said.

Dahill said the cause has not been determined officially but it looks to have been started by an electrical malfunction. The state fire marshal was expected on scene to held determine the cause, he said.

The building was midway through a renovation and was not occupied, he said. The owners were staying in a tent on the rear of the property.

The Pioneer Valley chapter of the American Red Cross was scheduled to send representatives to the scene Friday evening to see if they could assist the owners, Dahill said.

Assisting Huntington at the scene under mutual aid were the fire departments from Westhampton, Worthington, Russell and Chester.

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Facebook's stock closed at $38.23, up 23 cents from where it began the day.

Associated PressElectronic screens show the price of Facebook shares after they began trading Friday, May 18, 2012 in New York. The social media company priced its IPO on Thursday at $38 per share, and beginning Friday regular investors will have a chance to buy shares.

NEW YORK — After all the hype, Facebook's first day as a public company ended where it began. Its stock closed at $38.23, up 23 cents, after pricing Thursday night at $38 per share.

After an anxiety-filled half-hour delay, its stock began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market for the first time as investors were finally able to put a dollar value on the company that turned online social networking into a global cultural phenomenon.

The stock opened at 11:32 a.m. at $42.05, but soon dipped to $38.01. By noon, it was up again at $40.40, a 6 percent increase. It fluttered throughout the afternoon, but it never hit the double-digit jump that many Facebook-watchers had expected. By the end of the day, more than 500 million shares had changed hands

The closing price means Facebook is worth about $105 billion, more than Amazon.com, McDonalds and storied Silicon Valley icons Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.

But as many people looked for a big first-day pop in Facebook's share price, the single-digit increase was somewhat of a letdown.

"It wasn't quite as exciting as it could have been," said Nick Einhorn, an analyst with IPO advisory firm Renaissance Capital. "But I don't think we should view it as a failure."

Indeed, the small jump in price could be seen as an indication that Facebook and the investment banks that arranged the initial public offering priced the stock in an appropriate range. It's also a supply and demand issue. Facebook offered nearly 20 percent of its available stock in the IPO, so there was enough to meet demand. In comparison, Google offered just 7.2 percent of its stock when it went public in 2004 — and rose 18 percent on day one.

To IPOdesktop's Francis Gaskins, it means mom-and-pop investors are becoming "much more educated and careful" about not buying into hype. And he said that the banks taking Facebook public have learned from the 10 IPOs of social media companies in the past year and are better able to gauge how much stock to make available in an initial offering.

It might not have been possible for the social network to live up to the hype that led up to its IPO. It's Facebook, after all, a place where people are emotionally invested in endless online diversions and rekindled friendships, an endless depository of baby photos, favorite songs and fleeting memories.

"It's probably one of the first times there has been an IPO where everyone sort of has a stake in the outcome," said Gartner analyst Brian Blau. While most Facebook users won't see a penny from the offering, they are all intimately familiar with the company.

Earlier Friday, the company's 28-year-old CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, smiled as he rang the opening bell from Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Surrounded by cheering Facebook employees and wearing his signature hoodie, he pushed the button that signals the opening of the stock market in New York. The morning's events followed an all-night "hackathon" at the company, where engineers stayed up coding software and conjuring up new ideas for Facebook and its 900 million users.

"Right now this all seems like a big deal. Going public is an important milestone in our history. But here's the thing, our mission isn't to be a public company. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected," Zuckerberg said. "In the past eight years, all of you out there have built the largest community in the history of the world. You've done amazing things that we never would have dreamed of and I can't wait to see what you guys all do going forward."

Afterward, employees tried to get back to business as usual, building the company under immense new pressure to meet shareholders' expectations. To remind everyone not to get caught up in the hoopla, Facebook's employees were given t-shirts that read "Stay focused & keep hacking."

On Thursday, Facebook and the investment bankers settled on a price of $38 per share. The company and its early investors raised $16 billion in the offering, which valued Facebook at $104 billion. That makes Facebook the most valuable U.S. company to ever go public.

Now, the stock market will begin assigning a dollar value to Facebook that will rise and fall with investor whims. It will be subject to broad economic forces and held accountable for profit it earns —or loses— from one quarter to the next.

But Facebook is a rare company whose IPO transcends Wall Street's money lust. It is a cultural touchstone for the way technology reshapes our lives. Since its start as a scrappy network for college students, Facebook has come to define social networking by getting people around the world to share everything from photos of their pets to their deepest thoughts.

It has done so while becoming one of the few profitable Internet companies to go public recently. It had net income of $205 million in the first three months of 2012, on revenue of $1.06 billion. In all of 2011, it earned $1 billion, up from $606 million a year earlier. That's a far cry from 2007, when it posted a net loss of $138 million and revenue of $153 million. The company makes most of its money from advertising. It also takes a cut from the money people spend on virtual items in Facebook games such as "FarmVille."

Facebook's public debut marks a new milestone in the history of the Internet. In 1995, Netscape Communications' IPO gave people their first chance to invest in a company whose graphical Web browser made the Internet more engaging and easier to navigate. Its hotly anticipated IPO lit the fuse that ignited the dot-com boom. That explosion of entrepreneurial activity and investment culminated five years later in a devastating bust that obliterated the notion that the Internet had hatched a "new economy".

It took Google's IPO in 2004 to prove that an Internet company with a disruptive idea could be profitable. In the process, the Internet search leader is forcing other industries to adapt to a new order where people have come to expect to be able to find just about anything they want by entering a few words into a box on any device with an Internet connection.

Facebook's IPO heralds a new phase of the Internet's evolution. This social era makes connections among people as important as Google's massive index of Web links. Still, the IPO will raise new pressures for Facebook to generate more revenue, perhaps by digging further into the trove of revealing information that people share on the network to sell even more targeted ads.

The IPO almost certainly will enrich other up-and-coming entrepreneurs as Zuckerberg uses the company's cash and stock to buy other startups in an effort to being in other talented engineers and promising technology. That's what has been doing for years. Since it went public in 2004, Google has spent $10.2 billion buying nearly 200 other companies. Those figures don't include Google's still-pending $12.5 billion acquisition of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which is still awaiting regulatory approval in China.

Zuckerberg's biggest deal so far came when he agreed to buy Instagram, a maker of a popular mobile app for photos, for $1 billion. Because most of the deal is being paid for in stock, Instagram is already getting richer. Based on the $38 price for Facebook's stock, Instagram is in line to receive nearly $1.2 billion.

Though Zuckerberg rang the Nasdaq opening bell from California, people outside the stock market in Times Square snapped photos of a big blue Facebook sign that lit up the building. Some of them used their smart phones to check in to the Nasdaq on Facebook. Frederick Nolde, who was visiting from Richmond, Va., said he bought 100 shares through the online brokerage eTrade.

He thinks the company is worth $100 billion. "I think Google is a good comparison and it's worth $200 to 300 billion. The real question is how they do in mobile. If they can figure that out they'll do well."

In Menlo Park, some mourned the one that got away. Venture capitalist Mark Siegel visited Facebook's headquarters to ponder. Like many of his fellow tech startup investors with offices a short drive from Facebook on Silicon Valley's famed Sand Hill Road, Siegel said he had chances to back Facebook early on but didn't.

He said at the time, when competing social networks like Friendster and MySpace still had clout, it wasn't clear that Facebook would come out on top.

"In hindsight, any price would have been a good price to pay," said Siegel, a managing director at Menlo Ventures.

There's still time. Bruno del Ama, the CEO of asset management firm Global X Funds, is waiting until Thursday, to get in on Facebook.

"On the first day you see a tremendous amount of volatility," he said. In three days, short-sellers will be able to sell the stock, he added, so by day five, investors should see more stability. Global X has a fund focused on social media stocks, and del Ama expects "significant growth" in the sector in the coming decade. Facebook, right now, is the crown jewel of the space. And it's likely here to stay, by virtue of its position.

"Once companies have built a network, it's really difficult to displace them," del Ama said, adding that while massive companies such as Google are trying to compete with Facebook — and may have better technology — "we care about where our friends are."

There are also two candidates seeking one post on the Planning Board.

Russell Mitchell, left, and Robert Russell are competing for a seat on the Wilbraham Board of Selectmen.

WILBRAHAM - Town Clerk Beverly J. Litchfield said she is hoping for a voter turnout of more than 20 percent in Saturday’s town election.

Warm, sunny weather and a variety of races on the ballot should help get voters to the polls.

For a three-year term on the Board of Selectmen, Republican nominee Robert Russell will face off against Democratic nominee Russell Mitchell.

Voting Saturday is from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Voters in Precincts A and C vote at Wilbraham Middle School at 466 Stony Hill Road and voters in Precincts B and D vote at Soule Road School at 300 Stony Hill Road.

For School Committee there are four candidates seeking two positions.

They are Republican Town Committee endorsed Marc E. Ducey, a member of the Finance Committee, and Michelle Emirzian, a Springfield teacher.

Also on the ballot are Democratic incumbent Gilles Turcotte and James Wilkinson who is running without the endorsement of a Town Committee.

Also on the town election ballot there is a race for Planning Board where Dean Stroshine, a candidate for re-election, is running against David Sanders, Republican Caucus nominee.

Spectators are urged to arrive early since hundreds of thousands are expected to attend the show on Aug. 4 and 5.

File photo by David Molnar / The RepublicanA Blackhawk helicopter flies overhead in 2008, the last time an air show was held at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee.

CHICOPEE - Look up, look down.

This year’s Air Show at Westover Air Reserve Base will feature more than 60 aircraft on the flight line and dozens more roaring overhead on Aug. 4 and 5.

The sensory spectacle, which typically draws hundreds of thousands of people to the base, will combine the F-15 Eagle fighter jet with the B-25 Mitchell World War II bomber. The latter was once stationed at Westover during the Cold War, according to Sgt. Andrew S. Biscoe, spokesman for the base.

“It’s going to be a big, big show. That’s lots of airplanes on our ramp, not to mention those flying overhead,” Biscoe said.

The theme will be “A Salute to the Greatest Generation” with an emphasis on WWII aircraft.

Absent from this year’s show will be the all-popular Thunderbirds, a U.S. Airforce Demonstration Squadron. Biscoe said the team is in high demand and fly 70 to 80 airshows each year across the country.

One of the base’s enormous 16 C-5 cargo planes will be open on the runway, however, for spectators to tour entirely.

“People will be able to go right through - in and out the other side,” Biscoe said, adding that others will be flying.

In addition, up to 30 exhibits will be on display in the base hangar, built in 1939. That hangar is a former maintenance dock for President Dwight Eisenhower’s 1950s version of Air Force One - a C-54 cargo plane dubbed “The Sacred Cow,” Westover officials said.

The Army National Guard Band will perform in the hangar as well as on the flight line. Opening the gates at Westover is a long tradition at the base, an Air Reserve property since 1974.

This is Westover’s first air show in four years. Admission and parking are free.

However, the three base gates available for inbound traffic become quickly congested so visitors are urged to arrive early.

The Dow Jones industrial average has now declined on 12 of the last 13 trading days.

By JOSHUA FREED | AP Business Writer

Associated PressThe Chrysler Building is visible behind the animated facade of the Nasdaq MarketSite, welcoming the Facebook IPO, in New York's Times Square, Friday, May 18, 2012. Facebook's stock is trading up Friday, as investors seek to put a dollar value on the company that turned online social networking into a global cultural phenomenon. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

It's going to take more than Facebook's initial public offering to push the stock market higher.

Facebook shares rose 23 cents above their $38 offering price. It seemed like everything else fell.

The Dow Jones industrial average has been in a slump over the past two weeks as traders saw an escalating risk that Greece could leave the euro, causing more disruptions in markets. Remember the go-go days of May 1, 2012? The Dow was up 8.7 percent for the year. After Friday, it's up just 1.2 percent.

On Friday the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 73.11 points, to close at 12,369.38. It fell 3.5 percent for the week. The Dow has now declined on 12 of the last 13 trading days.

Nine of the 10 industry groups in the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell. Financials dropped the most, 1.1 percent.

First, Facebook.

Trading for the year's most eagerly awaited initial public offering was delayed about 30 minutes because of a glitch at Nasdaq. Nasdaq said the problem was with sending messages about whether trades had been executed. It was almost two-and-a-half hours before it said its trade messages were working normally.

The glitch sent shares of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., parent company of the Nasdaq market, down 4.4 percent.

Facebook shares were priced at $38 and initially traded as high as $45. They closed at $38.23.

Europe was the bigger worry for investors. The Fitch ratings agency dropped Greece to the lowest possible grade for a country not in default Thursday. Fitch said Greece's departure from the euro "would be probable" if elections next month do not reverse political trends in Greece, which have brought in politicians opposed to the terms of Europe's bailout.

Also, ratings agency Moody's downgraded 16 Spanish banks late Thursday, three days after downgrading Italy's, noting they are vulnerable to huge losses on government debt.

Representatives of the G-8 are meeting this weekend at Camp David, looking for assurances that leaders in Europe can contain damage if Greece leaves the euro.

"Despite all the attention on the Facebook IPO, I think there's still lots of underlying uncertainty surrounding this European debt situation," said Scott Wren, senior equity strategist for Wells Fargo Advisors in St. Louis. "This Greek situation isn't good. I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. Probably the same with Spain."

Borrowing costs for Italy rose slightly to 5.76 percent on Friday. The yield on Spain's 10-year bond fell slightly to 6.2 percent, a level that's still very high by historic standards.

European shares edged lower, following several days of big losses. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX lost 0.6 percent and France's CAC-40 fell 0.1 percent.

"The serious investors remain very concerned about the developments in Europe," said Jim Russell, regional investment director for US Bank Wealth Management in Cincinnati. "We think Facebook is a little bit of a sideshow. Great company. But maybe one that's valued on the high side of most people's tastes."

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9.64 points to close at 1,295.22. The Nasdaq composite index fell 34.90 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 2,778.79.

Hewlett-Packard fell 2.7 percent — the biggest decline among the Dow's 30 stocks — after it said it might eliminate up to 30,000 jobs because of dwindling demand for personal computers.

Gap fell 2.3 percent even though it issued higher guidance for the year.

There were bright spots. Salesforce.com jumped 8.8 percent after the maker of web-based business software reported better-than-expected earnings and raised its guidance for the year. Foot Locker rose 8.3 percent after its quarterly profit jumped 36 percent, sprinting past Wall Street predictions and setting a company record for quarterly earnings.

Yahoo rose 3.7 percent after Dow Jones' tech website AllThingsD.com reported that the web portal is close to a deal to sell a large part of its stake in China's Alibaba Group. Many investors view the Alibaba stake as Yahoo's most valuable asset.

Oil prices fell $1.08 to $91.48. Along with stocks, oil has dropped rapidly in recent days because slowing economies use less of it.

Haley Colvertino of Hampden said it wasn't really a slap at the college but a way to raise awareness of what seemed like a sharply devalued document.

HAMPDEN — When Haley Colvertino graduated from college two years ago shouldering $25,000 in student loan debt, she wasn’t too worried.

Haley Colvertino

In fact, she was so filled with optimism she left the University of Massachusetts at Lowell two weeks before graduation, after she had banked her final credit.

But Colvertino became rapidly disenchanted when she realized her bachelor of arts degree in psychology hardly guaranteed a dream job in a dismal market. Today, after hundreds of unsuccessful interviews and working part-time at the front desk of a Gold’s Gym, Colvertino has taken the unconventional tack of offering to return her degree for a refund. She even went so far as to send Chancellor Martin T. Meehan a certified letter.

“I am struggling to pay off my student loans and would like to return my degree,” Colvertino wrote, conceding it was a tongue-in-cheek offer but that she wanted to inform the highest ranks of the university of the plight of legions of graduates.

The lack of response from the college suggested the diploma was a final sale. Colvertino, 24, said it wasn’t really a slap at the college but a way to raise awareness of what seemed like a sharply devalued document.

However, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2011 show that college graduates suffered from significantly less unemployment woes even a bad jobs market. While those with less than a high school diploma reported around 14 percent unemployment (six points above the national average) those who earned their bachelor’s degrees reported 5 percent unemployment and doctoral degree recipients reported 2.5 percent unemployment.

Career placement experts also said the type of degree you earn can help determine your fate in a competitive field.

“An undergraduate degree in psychology doesn’t lend itself to a very clear path,” said David Gadaire, executive director of CareerPoint, a nonprofit job placement center in Holyoke. “She should really be coming into a center like ours and we can try to get her on the right path.”

Gadaire also said while he understands the frustration of new graduates like Colvertino and a growing number of law school graduates who have elected to sue their alma maters for false advertising, a college degree is still an inarguable advantage. However, Colvertino said she has been turned away from a series of low-level jobs because her college degree and neophyte job history have rendered her overqualified.

Academic officials at UMass-Lowell said they are aware that Colvertino’s graduating year produced an all-time low in terms of job placement, but the university offers alums lifetime assistance through the career center on campus, which includes resume building, interviewing skills assistance, job search tools, professional networks and more.

“We tell all students: If your resume isn’t getting you interviews, you need to look at you resume. If your interviews aren’t getting you offers you need to look at your interview skills,” UMass-Lowell Assistant Dean of Career Development Patricia A. Yates said, adding that the feedback wasn’t personal to Colvertino.

Yates said the market is looking up, however, and UMass-Lowell's career fair in April was over capacity in terms of employers and recruiters.

In the UMass-Amherst business education sector, a career specialist there said graduates are posting positive numbers recently for job placement. Nicholas P. Wegman, executive director of the Chase Career Center, Eisenberg School of Management, said self-reported statistics from the class of 2011 indicated 84 percent were employed in their fields of choice within six months of graduation.

“When students come in as freshmen, they take a class called ‘Transition.’ It’s sort of like a general introduction into business: they learn about resumes, networking, business etiquette, time management. Compared to many of their peers, these students are on a path almost immediately,” Wegman said, adding that they are encouraged to enlist in multiple internships before seeking full-time employment.

Volunteers will gather at Holyoke Heritage State Park.

Staff photo by Michael S. GordonScenes similar to this are expected Saturday during a citywide clean up by volunteers. These volunteers worked on the dingle, the narrow walking trail between Peck and Holyoke High schools, last month.

HOLYOKE – A citywide clean up by volunteers coordinated by Mayor Alex B. Morse’s office will be done Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

After the clean-ups around the city, participants are asked to gather at 1 p.m. at Holyoke Heritage State Park, 221 Appleton St., a press release stated.

Pizza and refreshments will be served.

In response, Mayor Domenic Sarno said he would ask councilors to consider a $10 trash increase, followed by $5 hikes in the following four years, with no reduction in barrel size.

SPRINGFIELD — A City Council subcommittee this week rejected a plan to increase trash collection rates by as much as $29 a year over five years, putting the future of the fee increase in doubt.

Following four public hearings on the proposal, the General Government subcommittee voted 2-0 to reject all three options submitted by Chief Administrative and Financial Officer Lee C. Erdmann, according to subcommitte chairman John A. Lysak.

John Lysak

The combination of fee increases and a reduction in barrel size from 95 gallons to 65 gallons made the proposal unfair to taxpayers, Lysak said.

“More money for less service is not a good thing,” said Lysak, who called the public hearings to gauge reaction to the proposed new fees.

“There are people who are willing to pay for some sort of increase in fees, but nobody wants the barrel reduction,” he added.

Fee increases need council approval.

Under the most expensive option, the fee would increase from $75 to $104, effective July 1, then continue to rise by $29 a year for an additional four years until it reaches $220 in 2017. At the rate of $220, trash services would be essentially self-funded, Erdmann said.

Other options include raising the fee by $10 on July 1, followed by either a $10 or $5 annual increase for four years.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, who is counting on increased trash fee revenue for the 2013 municipal budget, is supporting the least expensive option while Erdmann has recommended the $29 fee increase.

Lysak said the proposal will not come up for a vote before the full City Council, and declined to speculate on the future of the trash fee plan.

“They are going to have to come up with other options,” Lysak said.

In response, Sarno said he would ask councilors to consider the $10 trash increase, followed by $5 hikes in the subsequent four years, with no reduction in barrel size.

“I think it’s fair – and I think we can continue to tweak the program,” Sarno said, adding that he appreciated the the subcommittee's work in holding the public hearings.

Councilor Zaida Luna joined Lysak in opposing the fee; committee member Melvin Edwards was not present, Lysak said.

Sarno said he hopes a combination of fee increases, reduced spending and use of city’s reserves will soften the impact of layoffs in the coming fiscal year.

Without additional revenue, layoffs and service reductions will be unavoidable, the mayor said.

File photo | The Republican

Bruce Stebbins said he helped give a quick tour of Springfield to 2 officials with Penn National Gaming last year when he worked for the city.

BOSTON — A member of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission from Springfield on Friday disclosed that he gave two employees of a Pennsylvania casino company a tour of Springfield last year when he worked for the city, including driving them by an old manufacturing site now owned by a separate casino company.

Bruce Stebbins

Gaming commissioner Bruce W. Stebbins said the state Ethics Commission has advised him that he can have no contact with city of Springfield officials about the old Westinghouse site on Page Boulevard until a year has passed since he left his job as the city's business development manager.

Stebbins said he showed the former Westinghouse property to the two employees from Penn National Gaming in September of last year, a couple of months before Ameristar Casinos announced it intended to buy the property for a possible casino resort.

Stebbins said he mentioned the tour with the Pennsylvania casino company when he was interviewed for his five-year appointment to the Gaming Commission, a new state agency created to license and oversee casinos. Stebbins said he also told the Ethics Commission about his contact with Penn National.

"That's the only contact I ever had," with a casino company while working for Springfield, Stebbins said.

Stebbins said the tour should not affect his ability to vote on the Western Massachusetts license for a casino, even if Penn National applies for a license.

The state's casino law, signed in November by Gov. Deval L. Patrick, authorizes the commission to approve up to three casino resorts in different areas of the state including one for Western Massachusetts.

Stebbins said he went on "a quick windshield tour of Springfield" with Brian M. Connors, deputy director of economic development for Springfield, and two Penn National officials who had asked for the tour. They saw the riverfront, the downtown and the 41-acre Westinghouse site on Page Boulevard purchased by Ameristar for $16 million in January.

Stebbins and Troy Stremming, a senior vice president for Ameristar, both said that Stebbins has never met with officials of Las Vegas-based Ameristar.

"No one from our company has met with him," Stremming said Friday. "I want to assure you it was not Ameristar."

Penn National has talked about a possible casino resort for Western Massachusetts, but so far has unveiled no plans for a casino in the region.

In the only other casino proposal announced for Western Massachusetts, the Mohegan Sun is planning a resort on about 150 acres in Palmer off Exit 8 on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Stebbins was among the final two members of the commission who were selected jointly by Patrick, Attorney General Martha M. Coakley and Treasurer Steven Grossman.

Stebbins said he has been cleared to vote on a Western Massachusetts casino license by the Ethics Commission, as long as he discloses his intent to vote on a Springfield issue such as awarding a license in Western Massachusetts.

Stebbins on Tuesday said he requested an opinion from the state Ethics Commission, partly because he had been working as a business development manager for the city and would need to make decisions on the commission that could impact his former employer.

Stebbins, a former two-term member of the Springfield City Council and city employee, has faced some criticism that he might be biased in favor of a casino for Springfield in a possible competition for the single casino license that could be available in Western Massachusetts.

Stebbins has said he will be impartial and diligent if he votes on a casino license for Western Massachusetts.

But Stebbins said he does not know at this point about whether he would be allowed to vote on the Western Massachusetts casino license. Under the state's gaming law, the commission must establish a code of ethics that is tougher than key chapters in the state's conflict of interest laws and that ethics code could exclude him from participating in the Western Massachusetts vote.

Before being appointed to the commission in March, Stebbins had worked as a development manager for the City of Springfield since September of 2010 and had previously served on the city council.

Stephen P. Crosby, the chairman of the commission, receives $150,000 a year for the full-time job. Stebbins and the other three commissioners — Gayle Cameron, James F. McHugh and Enrique A. Zuniga — receive $112,500 and also work full time.

The exercise is designed to help the military from different countries share and practice tactics and uses of equipment, so they can work better together.

Photo by Nicholas Mercurio / U.S. Air ForceAn F-15Cs from the Massachusetts Air National Guard is seen supporting Exercise Eager Lion 12. Eager Lion is a multinational exercise May 7-28, with more than 11,000 participants from 19 different countries designed to portray realistic, modern-day security challenges while enhancing partner interoperability and strengthening long-term relationships.

WESTFIELD – “Eager Lion 12” is the name of a massive military operation that’s going on in Jordan right now, and Air National Guard members from Western Massachusetts are there.

Fortunately, it’s all friendly.

Jordan is an ally of the United States, and part of the mission is to strengthen the relationship between the two countries – and many others.

Troops from 19 countries are involved in the military exercises, and the Air Guard’s 131st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, from the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Regional Airport, arrived at Mwaffaq Al Salti Airbase in Jordan on May 8.

The 104th members are being led by Lt. Col. Alexander Haldopoulos, of Longmeadow, Lt. Col. Kenneth Fedora, of Southampton, director of operations for the squadron, and Major Nathaniel Zajac, of Goshen, project officer for the squadron.

The exercise is designed to help the military from different countries share and practice tactics and uses of equipment, so they can work better together, according to Major Matthew Mutti, spokesman for the 104th. The exercises include combat search and rescue missions, Mutti said.

“In the event of war, if one of our members should be lost, shot down or kidnapped, we would send a team to rescue the person and return them back home,” he said, describing some of the exercises being undertaken as part of the training effort.

“This expedition in particular,” said Mutti, “is tied to the logistical challenge of operating in the Middle East.”

The entire Jordanian military is participating in Eager Lion 12, including the Jordanian Royal Air Force. Besides the Air Guard and its F-15 Eagle fighter jets, the U.S. military is represented by Army, Navy and Marine Corps units. 

Peter Joseph Costanza was acquitted of charges of indecent assault and battery and public corruption.

MassLive.comJury selection remains a controversial process.

FALL RIVER — A former Bristol County prosecutor has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in a courthouse conference room in 2008.

The jurors in Fall River Superior Court returned the verdict Friday in their second day of deliberations.

Peter Joseph Costanza was acquitted of charges of indecent assault and battery and public corruption. He was accused of forcibly kissing and groping a 17-year-old girl and telling her he could help keep her boyfriend out of jail. Costanza was prosecuting the teen's boyfriend in Attleboro District Court.

Costanza's lawyer said his client was the victim of a conspiracy, and the girl tried to frame him by coming on to him. The now 42-year-old Costanza testified he had consensual physical contact with the teen.

Houseman faces 3 charges of careless driving causing death against and another 4 charges of careless driving causing injury.

Associated PressPolice and fire crew examine the scene of a minivan crash near Turangi, New Zealand, Saturday, May 12, 2012. Three Boston University students who were studying in New Zealand were killed Saturday when their minivan crashed. At least five other students from the university were injured in the accident, including one who was in critical condition. (AP Photo/New Zealand Herald, John Cowpland)

By NICK PERRY

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand police filed charges Friday against a 20-year-old Boston University student who drove a minivan in a crash that killed three of his college classmates last week.

Stephen Houseman, of Massapequa, N.Y., made his first court appearance Friday afternoon in Auckland wearing a sling on his arm from his own injuries in the crash, the New Zealand Herald reported. The paper said he was remanded without plea until his next appearance in June.

Houseman faces three charges of careless driving causing death against and another four charges of careless driving causing injury. Each of the charges carries a maximum jail term of three months.

There was no answer to a knock on the door at Houseman's Massapequa home.

Twenty-six Boston University students studying this semester in New Zealand and Australia were traveling in three minivans to a well-known volcanic crater hike May 12 when one of the minivans rolled.

Killed were Austin Brashears, of Huntington Beach, Calif.; Daniela Lekhno, of Manalapan, N.J.; and Roch Jauberty, of Paris, France.

The driver and four other students were injured. One of them, Meg Theriault, remains in critical condition at a hospital, but the others have been released.

In a statement Friday, police inspector Kevin Taylor said charging the student "is not a decision taken lightly and we understand the tragedy will already have had a significant impact on this young man. However, we are faced with a situation where three people have died and others are seriously injured and we must apply the law in an objective and dispassionate way."

Police said earlier that the single-vehicle wreck appeared to happen after the minivan drifted to the side of the road. The driver tried to correct his course, and the minivan then rolled several times.

Taylor said police do not believe the driver or any other students involved used alcohol or drugs before the crash. He said he has met with the surviving students and their families to explain New Zealand's legal process and to return their belongings.

The U.S. Embassy said it was "aware of the situation and monitoring it. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on matters before the court," David Edginton, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, said in a statement. "Since the accident, our consular officers have been providing services to the students and families, and will continue to do so as needed."

Aimee Copeland, 24, "shed no tears, she never batted an eyelash," her father, Andy Copeland, wrote on Facebook.

Associated PressFILE - This undated photo provided by the family shows Aimee Copeland, the 24-year-old Georgia graduate student fighting to survive a flesh-eating bacterial infection. Copeland has learned she will lose her hands and remaining foot, and responded by saying "Let's do this." Her father recounted the conversation in an update on his Facebook page Friday, May 18, 2012. Andy Copeland wrote about the difficult talk he had a day earlier with his daughter Aimee. The 24-year-old woman contracted the bacteria after an accident. (AP Photo/Copeland Family)

By JEFF MARTIN

ATLANTA — Faced with the prospect of losing both hands and her one remaining foot, a young Georgia woman battling to survive a case of flesh-eating bacteria that has already claimed one leg mouthed the words "Let's do this."

Aimee Copeland, 24, "shed no tears, she never batted an eyelash," her father, Andy Copeland, wrote on Facebook on Friday about the conversation he and his wife had with their daughter the day before.

"I was crying because I am a proud father of an incredibly courageous young lady," Copeland wrote.

It was not immediately clear whether the surgeries had already been performed and a post to a blog about the woman's progress Friday evening simply said "Aimee is doing well today. Her vital signs are as positive as her spirit."

A hospital spokeswoman referred questions to the father's online post.

The story of Copeland's battle to survive has inspired an outpouring of support from around the world. The University of West Georgia student developed a rare condition called necrotizing fasciitis after suffering a deep cut in her leg in a May 1 fall from a homemade zip line over the Little Tallapoosa River.

She has been hospitalized in critical condition at an Augusta hospital, battling kidney failure and other organ damage. She had been on a breathing tube until recently, when doctors performed a tracheotomy, her father said.

Until Thursday, Aimee Copeland did not know the full extent of her condition, only that her hands were badly infected.

Andy Copeland said he told his daughter about what had happened since the accident, how her one leg had been amputated. Doctors had once characterized her survival as "slim to none."

"We told her of the outpouring of love from across the world," her father said. "We told her that the world loved and admired her. We explained that she had become a symbol of hope, love and faith. Aimee's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She was amazed."

In Copeland's case, the necrotizing fasciitis was caused by bacteria known as Aeromonas hydrophila, which is found in warm rivers and streams. Many people exposed to the bacteria don't get sick. Only a handful of necrotizing fasciitis infections caused by the bacteria have been reported in medical journals in recent decades.

Under the condition, the bacteria emit toxins that destroy muscle, fat and skin tissue.

Andy Copeland said he learned Thursday that doctors wanted to amputate his daughter's hands and remaining foot. Doctors were concerned she could develop respiratory problems and if her hands released an infection in her body there was a risk she could become septic again, her father said.

"We had a window of opportunity to perform the amputations and have a successful outcome," he said. "As they usually do, the doctors were presenting us with a medical no-brainer. We had to do what is necessary to save Aimee's life."

At that point, the family decided to share the situation with their daughter.

Copeland said he showed his daughter her hands, told her they were not healthy and were hampering her progress.

"Aimee, I do not want anything to happen to you," Copeland said he told his daughter. "Your mind is beautiful, your heart is good and your spirit is strong. These hands can prevent your recovery from moving forward. The doctors want to amputate them and your foot today to assure your best possible chance of survival."

Aimee Copeland nodded her understanding.

Her father explained that she would eventually be fitted with prosthetics to help her get around and she nodded again.

Then she smiled, raised her hands up and looked at the damage. She then turned to her family, gathered by her bedside and mouthed the words: "Let's do this."

Her father said he left the room with tears in his eyes.

"I wasn't crying because Aimee was going to lose her hands and foot, I was crying because, in all my 53 years of existence, I have never seen such a strong display of courage," Copeland said.

Blackie said he has turned in more than enough signatures to get his name on the ballot.

Lincoln A. Blackie

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Lincoln A. Blackie, of Harwich Road, announced Tuesday that he has turned in 407 certified signatures of registered voters on nomination papers to the state Secretary of State’s Office, 257 more than the 150 needed to run for state representative in the fall.

Blackie, 22, said he will soon announce his campaign for state representative from the 6th Hampden District. A Republican, he plans to challenge state Rep. Michael J. Finn, D-West Springfield.

A Westfield State University graduate, Blackie stated he has gone door to door talking to hundreds of the district’s residents.

Galarza was serving 15 months for larceny, receiving stolen property and operating a motor vehicle without a license. His sentence was due to end on Sept. 14.

Republican file photo

Update: Richard McCarthy reports that Galarza was found and taken into custody shortly after 11 p.m. Friday.

SPRINGFIELD - The Hampden County Sheriff’s Department launched a search Friday night for an inmate who failed to report to the Day Reporting Center on State Street, officials said.

Sought is Julio Galarza, 19, of Springfield, said Richard McCarthy, spokesman for Sheriff Michael Ashe.

Galarza was serving 15 months for larceny, receiving stolen property and operating a motor vehicle without a license. His sentence was due to end on Sept. 14.

He is described as 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 163 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes.

For the last several months, he had been placed in the Day Reporting Program, a low-security program for non-violent low-risk offenders that allows them to live in the community providing they check in each day at the program offices on State Street.

McCarthy said jail officials suspect Galarza failed to report because he had learned that he was scheduled to be transferred back to the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow for repeated rules infractions with the Day Reporting Program.

Galarza is considered to be of minimal risk to the public, but people should exercise a matter of caution if they encounter him.

Anyone who knows where he is asked to call the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office at (413) 547-8000, extension 2191

There are 18 articles on the warrant, including a request to approve a tax increment financing agreement for project improvements at 1 Third St. in the Palmer Industrial Park.

PALMER - The Bondsville Fire and Water District will hold its annual meeting and election on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the district complex on Main Street.

Rosalie Lopes is running unopposed for one-year terms as clerk and treasurer. There is a vacant auditor position, as incumbent Carl Bryant did not return nomination papers. That position is for one year.

Fire Chief Scott Gustafson and Water Commissioner Robert Young are running unopposed for three-year terms.

There are 18 articles on the warrant, including a request to approve a tax increment financing agreement for project improvements at 1 Third St. in the Palmer Industrial Park in Bondsville.

Polymer Corp. wants to move from Monson to the park, and already received approval from the Town Council for a property tax break.

If Bondsville voters approve the agreement, the fire and water district will receive $13,070 in taxes over a 10-year period – from 2013 to 2022 – instead of $20,055, according to information from the town manager’s office.

The man handed the teller a note, but before she could do anything, he grabbed the note back and ran out the door.

Republican file photo

EAST LONGMEADOW - Police are looking for a unknown man who attempted to rob the TD Bank branch on North Main Street Friday evening but who fled without getting any money, police said.

Police said the suspect entered the bank at 7:50 p.m. just before closing and handed the teller a note that demanded cash. No weapon was shown but the note implied the man was armed.

Before the teller could do anything, the man grabbed the note back and ran out of the bank, police said. He was last seen running along Harkness Avenue toward Springfield.

The suspect was described as a black man, aproximated 6 feet, 2 inches tall with a slim to medium build and about 25-30 years old. He was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, a baseball cap, blue jeans and sunglasses.


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When firefighters arrived on scene, they found the car partially submerged, and the two occupants standing in waist-deep water.

View full sizeSpringfield Fire Department photo by Dennis LegerSpringfield Rescue Squad firefighter Juan Morales moves to secure a winch cable to lift a Chrysler Sirrus from a brook off Breckwood Boulevard. The car went off the road, down an embankment and landed upside down in the brook. Two people were injured.

SPRINGFIELD - A driver and his female passenger were injured Friday night after his car went off Breckwood Boulevard, down a 30-foot embankment and landed upside down in a brook that leads to Breckwood Pond, according to Fire Department spokesman Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant

When firefighters arrived on scene, they found the car, a Chrylser Sirus, partially submerged, and the two occupants standing in waist-deep water. Both said they were injured, and firefighters used a gurney and ropes to haul the woman up the embankment.

Both were taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center for treatment of undisclosed injures, Leger said.

Their names were not available.

The accident remains under investigation by the Springfield police.


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The first solar eclipse of the 21st century in the continental United States is about to take place.

File photo | Associated PressA view of a partial solar eclipse as seen from Gaza city last year. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

The first solar eclipse of the 21st century to affect the continental United States will take place on Sunday, May 20, 2012 and will cover a narrow path from Asia to the western U.S. (a partial eclipse can be seen in a wider area across western North America).

If you're in the path – which includes parts of Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas – of this solar eclipse, get ready for a spectacular celestial show. But don't look up in the sky without proper eye protection – you could damage your eyesight.

The best places to view the eclipse may well be one of several National Parks in the West and Soutwest. The National Parks Service has planned live programs at the parks, and will also offer online livestream coverage.

Sunday's eclipse is not a total eclipse but an annular eclipse, meaning the moon will not block the whole sun. That's because, according to NASA, the moon is as far away from the earth as it can get this weekend – thus smaller in the sky. For a total eclipse, the moon needs to be closer to the earth, and larger in the sky. The interesting thing about an annular eclipse, and this one in particular, is the ring of light it creates around the edge of the moon.

Here's how NASA explains Sunday's solar eclipse:

During an annular eclipse the moon does not block the entirety of the sun, but leaves a bright ring of light visible at the edges. For the May eclipse, the moon will be at the furthest distance from Earth that it ever achieves – meaning that it will block the smallest possible portion of the sun, and leave the largest possible bright ring around the outside.

A total solar eclipse will take place on Nov. 13, but most of it will take place over the Pacific Ocean. According to NASA, “The first and only populated region in the path lies along the east coast of Queensland (Australia).”

Some areas have quite a wait for their next total solar eclipse. For those of us in Springfield, Mass., for example, we will have to wait until another May – May 1, 2079 to be exact, according to NASA's Javascript Solar Eclipse Explorer – to see a total solar eclipse from our backyards.

To find out more about Sunday's solar eclipse, where it will take place and how to safely view an eclipse, watch this NASA video:

Here's the player to watch the National Park Service's livestream coverage of the eclipse: