Meredith Attwell Baker, one of two Republicans on the five-member Federal Communications Commission, will become senior vice president of government affairs for NBCUniversal.

(AP Photo)FCC Commissioner Meredith Atwell Baker will leave the FCC on June 3 to become senior vice president of government affairs for NBCUniversal, six months after she voted to approve the deal with Comcast.

By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top telecommunications regulator who voted to approve Comcast Corp.'s takeover of NBCUniversal in January is leaving to join the company as a lobbyist.

Meredith Attwell Baker, one of two Republicans on the five-member Federal Communications Commission, will become senior vice president of government affairs for NBCUniversal.

Comcast said it did not begin discussions with Baker about a possible job until after the transaction had closed. Baker will leave the FCC on June 3, less than a month before her term was set to expire. She joined the agency in July 2009.

Craig Aaron, head of the public interest group Free Press, called the move an example of "business as usual in Washington — where the complete capture of government by industry barely raises any eyebrows."

Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV company, bought a controlling interest in NBCUniversal after the FCC and the Justice Department approved the deal with conditions following a yearlong review. The FCC's vote was 4-1.

Baker, 43, will be based in Washington and will report to Kyle McSlarrow, who joined Comcast in April to head the company's Washington operations. McSlarrow previously headed the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the cable industry's top trade group.

"I am privileged to have had the opportunity to serve the country at a time of critical transformation in the telecommunications industry," Baker said in a statement. "The continued deployment of our broadband infrastructures will meaningfully impact the lives of all Americans. I am happy to have played a small part in this success."

Such moves between the private sector and the government are common in Washington. Following McSlarrow's departure, former FCC Chairman Michael Powell took the helm the NCTA.

At the FCC, Baker was a reliable pro-business voice who frequently expressed concern that the agency was imposing unnecessary and onerous regulations on phone and cable companies.

Along with fellow Republican commissioner Robert McDowell, Baker opposed the controversial "network neutrality" rules approved by the commission's three Democrats last year. Those rules, which prohibit phone and cable companies from interfering with Internet traffic on their broadband networks, are now facing legal challenges from Verizon and Metro PCS.

The companies are suing the FCC in the same federal appeals court that ruled against the agency last year in a case involving Comcast. The court said the agency had exceeded its legal authority in sanctioning Comcast for discriminating against online file-sharing traffic on its broadband network. The FCC had said that Comcast violated broad net neutrality principles first established by the commission in 2005, which became the foundation of the formal rules adopted last year.

Before joining the FCC, Baker was head of the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she helped oversee the transition from analog to digital broadcasting.

The Later Start Times Task Force recently submitted its report to Amherst Regional School Superintendent Maria Geryk and the Amherst Regional School Committee coming up with four options for change.

Republican file photo

AMHERST - Sleep deprived teen-agers could be getting some relief, depending on recommendations from school officials.

The Later Start Times Task Force recently submitted its report to Amherst Regional School Superintendent Maria Geryk and the Amherst Regional School Committee coming up with four options for change.

But due to costs of two of those options, the task force is focusing on the two others, both of which could be implemented for minimal costs.

Those options included switching the bus runs for secondary and elementary school, which would mean elementary would start and end an hour earlier while middle and high school would start and end an hour later. This option provides the best sleep benefit but also has the most negative aspect on elementary families and after school sports, according to the report.

The other option is to start and end both elementary and secondary school 30 minutes later. Instead of middle and high school starting at 7:45 a.m. as they do now, they’d begin at 8:15. Elementary school would begin at 9:10 instead of 8:40.

The secondary school day would end at 2:50, instead of 2:20 and elementary would at 3:35, instead of 3:05.

Joshua S. Goldstein, task force chairman, said more than 1,000 completed the survey including parents of both secondary and elementary school students, secondary school students and school staff.

In the secondary level, he said “the hour delay gives you more sleep benefits,” however it has a “bigger impact on sports.”

He said, “the research shows the half hour does matter” for the teens and there are “ways to remediate that half hour” difference.

He said there could be early morning child-care for instance.

According to the results, 84 percent of secondary parents said the 30-minute change would have a positive effect on their children and 79 percent said it would have a positive effect on them. But only 40 percent of elementary school parents said it would have a positive effect on them,with 45 percent reporting a negative effect. But 65 percent of those parents said the change would have a positive effect on students.

According to the report, changing sleep cycles start around puberty and “predispose teens to stay up later and not easily wake up early.”

In January, the Northampton School Committee rejected a bid to starting school 30 minutes later. Then Superintendent Isabelina Rodriguez, reported that buses would not be available to pick the high school students at 2:30 p.m., the end of the reconfigured day and students would have to remain at the school unsupervised for an hour or more.

That would not be a problem in Amherst.

South Hadley School officials are also talking about changing start times.

Goldstein said that Geryk will make a recommendation to the school committees. As a regional system, any change would have to be approved by the Amherst, Pelham, Shutesbury and Leverett elementary school committees and the regional committee. The Amherst Pelham Educators Association would need to be notified about the proposed schedule changes.

“The task force does not anticipate conflicts associated with renegotiating work hours,” according to the report.

Any change would not be instituted until the autumn of 2012 if approved, Goldstein said.

Bedbugs in a Canadian hospital are found to carry MRSA, Hampshire County DA says he will prosecute anyone who gave alcohol to UMass student who fell of roof and more headlines.

(AP Photo)Itchy bites and tossed-out mattresses may not be the only things to worry about during a bedbug infestation. Researchers have found that the tiny bloodsuckers can also harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

• DA would prosecute anyone who gave alcohol to UMass victim of roof fall [GazetteNet.com]


• A look at the top contenders for Osama bin Laden's job [CNNInternational.com]


• Spain shaken by deadly earthquakes [WashingtonPost.com]


• Floods are a reminder of the Mississippi River's power [NOLA.com]


• US billionaire found guilty of insider trading [EconomicTimes]


• Romney support for individual mandate complicates health care politics [Boston.com]






• Bob Marley exhibit opens on anniversary of death [Reuters.com]


• With the Acquisition of T-Mobile, Is AT&T Poised to Become a Monopoly Again? [NYDailyNews.com]


• Bedbugs with 'superbug' germs found in Canadian hospital [MSNBC.com]






• Twitter posts tagged #westernma in Western Mass. [MassLive.com]


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the new superintendent will participate in filling several School Department positions before her July 1 start date.

WESTFIELD – Contract negotiations between the School Committee and newly appointed Superintendent of Schools Suzanne Scallion are underway with focus on a three-year pact.

School Committee vice-chairperson Mary Beth Ogulewicz Sacco said Wednesday the official start date for Scallion will be July 1.

Suzanne Scallion

Negotiations on behalf of the committee are being conducted by the School Department’s Human Resources Department and city Law Department, said Sacco.

The salary range posted by the School Committee in its advertisement of the position is $130,000 to $165,000 annually. Retiring superintendent Shirley Alvira currently earns $131,840.

Scallion, currently an elementary school principal in Napa, Calif. was selected on a 4-3 vote of the School Committee earlier this week to succeed Alvira when she retires in July.

While contract negotiations are on-going, Scallion will participate through electronic communication in filling several key positions within the School Department.

Alvira said Wednesday she will involve the new superintendent in the appointment process for several principal and other positions that must be filled.

“Time is critical and some positions must be filled to allow individual schools and their principals to properly prepare for the 2011-2012 school year,” said Alvira.

Alvira said the new superintendent will be involved through Skype, electronically, in the interview and appointment process.

Sacco agreed with the process, noting that “there are a number of interim positions that must be filled.”

Some positions to be filled involve Southampton Road Elementary School, Fort Meadow Early Childhood Center, Westfield Vocational-Technical High School and Westfield High School.

Scallion, a former principal at Northampton’s Leeds Elementary School, has already said she will reside in a home she owns in Easthampton.

She holds a doctorate degree in education from the University of Massachusetts and a master degree from Bridgewater State University. She has served as principal at Alta Heights Elementary School in Napa since July 2008.

Scallion was one of four finalists for superintendent considered by the School Committee.

Others were Ronald R. Rix, principal of South Middle School here; Maureen F. Bingham, assistant superintendent in Swampscott; and Melodie L. Goodwin, curriculum director for North Adams School District.

Rix received three votes from the School Committee during its May 9 vote.

NATO airstrikes struck Moammar Gadhafi's sprawling compound in Tripoli and three other sites early Thursday, hours after the Libyan leader was shown on state TV in his first appearance since his son was killed nearly two weeks ago.

In this image made from Libyan TV, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi holds a meeting with tribal leaders from eastern Libya, in Tripoli, Libya, Wednesday, May 11, 2011. (AP Photo / Libyan TV via APTN) TV OUT LIBYA OUT

By DIAA HADID, Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — NATO airstrikes struck Moammar Gadhafi's sprawling compound in Tripoli and three other sites early Thursday, hours after the Libyan leader was shown on state TV in his first appearance since his son was killed nearly two weeks ago.

Explosions thundered across the Libyan capital and wailing ambulances raced through the city as the last missile exploded.

Government officials and state-run Libyan television said the strikes early targeted Bab al-Azaziya, Gadhafi's sprawling compound in Tripoli. They did not say which of the compound's buildings were targeted.

At the nearby Khadra Hospital, medics wheeled in the bodies of two men they said were killed in the shelling. One of the men was completely blackened and charred, his hands pausing mid-chest as if trying to defend himself when he died. The other man's body covered by a green blanket, his leg dangling from the stretcher.

From a bus ferrying reporters to the hospital, smoke could be seen rising from part of the Gadhafi compound. Skid marks left from screeching vehicles crisscrossed the roads around it.

The medics said others had been killed by the airstrikes and were still being retrieved from the compound.

Gadhafi's compound has frequently been the site of recent airstrikes, including one on April 30 that killed the leader's son, Seif al-Arab. Officials said the Libyan leader was in the compound when that strike occurred but escaped unharmed.

In an apparent effort to dispel rumors that Gadhafi himself had been killed, Libyan state TV showed him meeting tribal leaders, but did not record him speaking. To authenticate the scene, the camera zoomed in on the date on a TV monitor in the room, which read Wednesday, May 11. It was apparently recorded at the hotel where foreign correspondents must reside in Tripoli. Gadhafi did not make himself available to them.

The last time Gadhafi had been seen in public was April 9, when he visited a school in Tripoli.

According to the Libyan state news agency, JANA, one of the NATO strikes hit the North Korean Embassy in the capital, Tripoli. JANA said the mission was badly damaged by fragments of a NATO missile fired Monday.

Intensified NATO airstrikes on Gadhafi's forces across Libya have given a boost to rebels fighting to oust the regime, with the opposition claiming Wednesday that it had captured the airport in the western city of Misrata. In all, NATO said Wednesday, the alliance has carried out more than 2,400 airstrikes since March 31 as part of the effort to assist the rebels and pressure Gadhafi to end his 42-year authoritarian rule.

In Tripoli, a government spokesman denied the Misrata rebels' claims of success.

"This is nonsense," said Moussa Ibrahim. "We control the airport and we also control the sea port."

Even though some of the recent reports of ground combat are difficult to confirm, they seem to represent a major boost for the rebels' military prospects after weeks of stalemate on several fronts.

According to a rebel who identified himself as Abdel Salam, rebels were in total control of the airport in Misrata's southern outskirts after two days of fighting. He said five rebels were killed and 105 injured.

He said rebels are also pushing west from Misrata, toward the nearby city of Zlitan, hoping to then advance farther toward Tripoli.

"This is a major victory," Abdel Salam said. "The Gadhafi forces have been suffering lack of supplies ... Their morale was very low after being defeated several times and pushed back."

The rebels control most of eastern Libya, but Misrata — about 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli — is the only rebel stronghold in the west. Local doctors say more than 1,000 of its residents have been killed in the fighting and shelling during the siege by Gadhafi's forces.

Access to the port has been limited but not halted. The International Committee of the Red Cross has a chartered ship floating in the harbor which delivered medical supplies and baby food on Tuesday and is now being used to support ICRC work in the city.

Ibrahim did acknowledge that the war was creating severe shortages of many commodities in Tripoli.

"The NATO airstrikes and the sea embargo ... are badly influencing the lives of daily Libyans," he said. "We have some shortages in fuel, food and medicine. It makes it difficult to go to schools, hospitals and factories."

There was evidence of Tripoli's economic plight at its colorful Abu Salim market — the largest in the capital. While residents strolled through the displays of bejeweled robes and glittery shoes, traders said the number of customers had fallen drastically since the conflict began in mid-February.

"In normal times, you wouldn't have space to move," said a trader who requested anonymity, fearing disapproval from Libyan authorities.

The trader said fuel shortages, a slowdown of goods arriving by sea, and the dwindling value of the Libyan dinar had pushed up prices for many goods — more than doubling in some cases.

He said most of the customers in the bazaar were young women and their mothers, looking to buy new clothes — a tradition of brides before they marry. "They have no choice — they have to do it," he said.

It didn't take long for me to realize there were countless Phoebe Princes.

Full coverage of the Phoebe Prince case »

Again and again I found myself referring to her as Phoebe.

I had never met the girl about whom I was writing, but, like everyone else, I had my own personal Phoebe Prince.

With the resolution last week of criminal charges against the six former South Hadley High School students accused of doing bad things to Phoebe Prince, it would seem that the saga of the 15-year-old girl who tragically took her own life is winding to an end, at least on the stage of public opinion.

In reality, her story will live on in legislation, song and print. As long as anyone can conjure her in their mind, there will be a Phoebe Prince.

Covering suicide is always touchy. Unless it's a public spectacle or involves someone famous, it's usually deemed a private matter.

In the case of Phoebe Prince, a fragile high school freshman who hanged herself in her own home, it was neither. But there were signs early on that this story was bigger than any of us.

I was emailing my kids from Mexico last year when Phoebe Prince's image popped up on the screen. At first I thought I'd accidentally logged onto MassLive.com, the online home of The Republican; it turned out it was Google.

On the way home, I was browsing through an airport newsstand in Florida when I spotted that same photo of Prince on the cover of a national magazine.

Once I was assigned to the story, it didn't take long for me to realize there were countless Phoebe Princes. People who had been bullied, people with an ax to grind against school bureaucracy, outcasts, parents of outcasts, the outraged, the sympathetic, the vindictive, the lonely - everyone had their own Phoebe Prince.

If you were a nerd in school, this was your chance for revenge. If you were Irish, it got your Irish up. Phoebe was everyone's patron saint.

And how perfect she was. Newly arrived from her native Ireland, Prince was trying to fit into a new environment in a new school in a new country, only to find heartbreak.

She was pretty, delicate and vulnerable. She filled the bill in a way which Carl Walker-Hoover, who was 11, black and from Springfield, never could, although he also hanged himself after being bullied at school.

As I followed Prince's story, I struggled to maintain some perspective, to keep in mind that I didn't really know her, only what other people said about her.

One day, someone sent me an email that was linked to a Phoebe Prince Facebook page. For half an hour, I clicked through dozens of photographs, spellbound by what I saw. This was a Phoebe Prince I hadn't encountered, a Phoebe Prince with friends. She mugged for the camera, flashed hip-hop signs, laughed. It was a girl full of life.

The lawyer for one of the defendants in the Prince case told the judge he had tears in his eyes when he finished reading the file on her. "I would have liked this girl," he said he had told his wife. Some Phoebe people dismissed it as posturing, but I know how he felt.

This will come as no news flash to any woman who has been one or any parent who has had one, but being a teenage girl is no picnic. You're trying to piece together an identity by taking cues from other kids who are trying to piece together an identity.

It can turn nasty, hurtful and traumatic, perhaps now more than ever in this era of super skinny models and relentless social networking. It's survival of the fittest and woe to the weak. At the same time, kids are often pulling away, painfully, from their parents as they outgrow the nest. We can only imagine what turmoil raged inside Phoebe Prince.

Frankly, listening to people use Prince as their whetstone gets old. That's their Phoebe Prince.

And lest we forget that there's money to made off Phoebe Prince, the court has barred the six teenage defendants from profiting by their association with her. Prince's story has spawned cottage industries that include well-compensated bullying experts, consultants and lawyers.

It's also good copy. At least now we won't be seeing "How I Bullied Phoebe Prince" books and magazine stories and TV talk-show confessions.

When I need to keep things in perspective, I think of Prince's family. They had to render their beautiful Phoebe's body into ash and bury it in the ground. With those ashes went all the promise of a vivacious girl's life and all the joy she might have given them.

Everyone else's Phoebe Prince pales in comparison.

Fred Contrada is a staff writer with The Republican. He can be reached at fcontrada@repub.com

Aides said Romney won't apologize for his role in the Massachusetts law, which was enacted five years ago, but instead offer a strong defense of it.

AP PhotoFormer Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney waited until weeks before GOP primary voting began in 2008 to address a big vulnerability in his quest for the presidency — his Mormon faith. Advisers now say that was too late to answer voter skepticism.

This time, Romney is tackling an enormous weakness head-on at the outset of his campaign for president: a health care overhaul that he signed into law as Massachusetts governor and that became a model for President Barack Obama's national measure.

Conservatives loathe both, and Romney will seek to allay their concerns in a speech he'll deliver Thursday in Michigan, a state that's an important part of his GOP presidential race.

"Unfortunately, with the passage of Obamacare last year, the president and the Congress took a wrong turn," Romney said in a column appearing Thursday in USA Today that previewed his remarks.

Aides said Romney won't apologize for his role in the Massachusetts law, which was enacted five years ago, but instead offer a strong defense of it. They said he will make clear that he's opposed to Obama's federal approach to health care. And, they said, he plans to argue that Republicans should repeal the law before most of its components take effect and replace the law with an alternative that gives states more of a say in the public's health care options.

It's questionable how much of the speech will be new. Romney has spent months trying to explain his position and it's not clear Thursday's presentation will sway opinions.

In advance of his talk, the head of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida, accused the former Massachusetts governor of flip-flopping on the issue.

"What I think is unfortunate about Mitt Romney is that he doesn't even know who he is," Wasserman-Schultz said in an appearance Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America." She accused Romney of having "no convictions," saying he refuses to stand behind a health care program he authored in Massachusetts that is very similar to Obama's health care overhaul.

Wasserman-Schultz said she didn't think voters in next year's presidential election would be interested in supporting "someone who has no convictions."

The health care issue is one of Romney's biggest hurdles as he seeks to win over conservatives who hold much power in choosing the GOP presidential nominee. They already view him skeptically because of his record of reversals on some social issues and because of his Mormon faith.

It won't be easy for Romney to shake the ghost of health care — no matter what he says Thursday.

The public's angst over the federal law has shown no sign of fading. An Associated Press-GfK poll in March found 82 percent of Republicans oppose the plan.

During Romney's tour to promote his book "No Apology," a woman interrupted one appearance to share her frustrations with the Massachusetts plan.

Donors regularly want to hear Romney describe his political strategy for dealing with his vulnerability on health care before they hand over checks. At a foreign policy speech earlier this year in Las Vegas, a doctor in the audience pressed Romney on the health care law, forcing him to deviate from his preferred message. And Democrats, including Obama, are more than happy to praise Romney's work on the issue.

Like the federal law, the Massachusetts plan requires individuals to buy health insurance and imposes tax penalties on those who don't. Both plans penalize small businesses above a certain size that don't provide coverage to their employees. Both rely on new taxes for some of the financing.

Since Congress approved the national health overhaul a year ago, Romney has struggled to answer criticism of his role in the Massachusetts plan and, despite the obvious similarities, has sought to explain how it differs from Obama's. He also has talked up its benefits; Massachusetts has succeeded in raising the number of insured residents to 97 percent. He doesn't mention that the cost has strained the state treasury.

"It is too early to write a definitive evaluation of the Massachusetts reform," Romney wrote in his 2010 book.

In New Hampshire in March, Romney made a states' rights argument and noted there are things he would change about the Massachusetts law.

And in Las Vegas a few weeks later, he tried deflect Obama's praise, saying: "He does me the great favor of saying that I was the inspiration of his plan. If that's the case, why didn't you call me?"

Thursday's speech — in both the timing and the content — is an indication of just how much Romney's second bid is informed by his missteps four years ago.

He spent months dogged by questions about his Mormon faith. Aides now acknowledge he never fully answered voter concerns in the yearlong run-up to the Iowa caucuses. Just weeks before them, he delivered what aides now call "The Mormon Speech." But after much buildup, the speech failed to undo months of a whisper campaign that suggested Mormons are not Christian.

This time, Romney's advisers suggested that he deliver a health care policy speech early and get past it, even before he launches a full-fledged campaign and weeks before he participates in his first presidential debate.

An explanation absent an apology may not be enough to satisfy critics, including Republicans who may run against him and use health care to bludgeon him.

"He has to say either 'I love it,' 'I hate it,' or, 'Hey, I tried it, it didn't work and that's why I would say to you, let's not do it nationally,'" former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a potential rival, said recently.

Romney finds himself in a position that's similar to the one Hillary Rodham Clinton found herself in during the Democratic presidential primary in 2008 over her vote to authorize the war in Iraq. Liberals dogged her with questions about that 2002 vote; she refused to apologize, though she made several attempts to explain her thinking. Still, Clinton was never able to convince liberals that her position was not disqualifying.

Romney will spend the next months trying to convince conservatives of the same.

The intersection, closed at about 10 a.m., has since reopened.

SPRINGFIELD – The discovery of a milk jug filled with an unknown liquid Thursday morning prompted the temporary closing of the intersection at Roosevelt Avenue and South Branch Parkway and a response by hazardous materials personnel.

Fire Department spokesman Dennis G. Leger said the jug was reported about 9:15 a.m. a.m. The intersection has since been re-opened, he said. Motorists in the area report that the incident has snarled traffic.

The incident follows the discovery of numerous milk jugs filled with what is believed to be a hazardous chemical, a byproduct of methamphetamine production, in various areas of Holyoke at different times, beginning on Easter Sunday.

Baye also contends that he was denied his right to a lawyer during the Jan. 4 interview in which he admits that the fire at 17 Fair St. was a mistake.

An updated version of this story is now available at MassLive.

File photo by Don Treeger / The RepublicanNorthampton arson suspect Anthony P. Baye, right, talks with his attorney David P. Hoose during a previous appearance in Hampshire Superior Court.

NORTHAMPTON - When he woke up on the morning after the Dec. 27, 2009 fires he allegedly set, Anthony P. Baye asked himself how he could have done the previous night's deeds, he told investigators.

"What was I doing last night?" he recalled thinking. "Like, why would I do that?"

Baye's recollections were part of a transcript of the Jan. 4 interview with state police investigators Michael Mazza and Paul Zipper that was played in Hampshire Superior Court on Thursday. Defense lawyers David P. Hoose and Thomas Lesser have filed motions to suppress the interview along with evidence gathered by police on the night of the fires. Judge Constance Sweeney will determine whether or not the evidence can be presented at trial.

Police stopped Baye twice on the night of the fires while he was driving in the vicinity and observed that he was wet and smelled of alcohol. It was raining hard that night. The defense maintains that the officers lacked probable cause to stop and question Baye.

Baye also contends that he was denied his right to a lawyer during the Jan. 4 interview in which he admits that the fire at 17 Fair St. fire was a mistake. That fire took the lives of Pauol Yeskie, 81, and his son, Paul Yeskie, Jr., 39. Although investigators are shown assuring Baye on several occasions that he could have a lawyer, they persuaded him that it would be in his interest to continue speaking with them.

Baye told police that he drank 13 beers on the night of the fires. Recalling the events of Dec. 29, he said, "It must have been the booze."

Baye, 26, faces two counts of first degree murder and some 40 other crimes in connection with 15 separate fires set that night. In an effort to get Baye to talk, his interrogators repeatedly assured him that they did not believe he intended to hurt anyone. Mazza told Baye that the Yeskie's died because they had modified the house so that the front door was their only exit.

"They couldn't get out of there on a good day, let alone a bad day," he said.

Mazza also said the Yeskies were hoarders and that the debris contributed to the fire's quick spread. Mutual aid from Amherst did not arrive at Fair Street for 15 minutes, a time gap he called "inexcusable."

The airport's main runway is used by corporate jets, general aviation and military operations.

File photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanBarnes Municipal Airport in Westfield, seen here last month, is changing its name to Barnes Regional Airport.

WESTFIELD – Airport officials are developing a plan to address runway needs at Barnes Regional Airport that could cost as much as $20 million.

Manager Brian P. Barnes said this week the airport is looking at a construction project that could range from resurfacing the main runway to a complete reconstruction of the 9,000 foot long stretch.

“We are working with the Federal Aviation Administration, Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Massachusetts Air National Guard to address these needs,” said Barnes.

He estimated the cost of project at between $7 million for resurfacing to as high as $20 million for the total reconstruction.

Earlier this week Massachusetts Congressional delegates announced the award of $1.8 million targeting improvements at four airports in the state.

The funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation will be used to restore outdated taxiways and runways, preserve surrounding environments and improve overall safety at Norwood Memorial, New Bedford Regional, Fitchburg Municipal and Beverly Municipal airports.

The award was announced by Senators John Kerry, D-Ma. and Scott Brown, R-Ma. and Congressman Barney Frank, D-Ma.

The Norwood Airport will receive $763,800; New Bedford, $605,150; Fitchburg, $316,347 and Beverly Airport, $125,614 from the allocation.

The last runway upgrade at Barnes was completed in 2008 when 300 feet from one end of its secondary runway was removed and reconstructed as part of a $1.9 million FAA safety project. That followed an earlier project in 2008 to remove trees and other obstacles both on and off airport property.

That runway work was the first pavement upgrade since the 1970s.

The main runway is used by corporate jets, general aviation and flight activity by the Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing which now fly’s the F-15 Eagle fighter as part of its homeland security mission.

Barnes serves an estimated 65,000 takeoffs and landings annually for an average of 189 operations daily.

The shooting was reported shortly before noon on Thursday.

Update: A Holyoke Gas & Electric employee was injured by flying glass in a shooting. More information has been added below.

HOLYOKE - A Holyoke Gas & Electric employee was cut by flying glass after an unknown person shot through his windshield Thursday afternoon.

The man suffered cuts on his face after the bullet entered the windshield and exited through the back window, Police Capt. Arthur R. Monfette Jr. said.

The bullet came very close to hitting the man in the head. He was working with a crew of other employees who were making repairs to a gas line at the time, Monfette said.

"This was probably a gang thing. It came very close to killing or seriously wounding a city worker," Monfette said.

The shooting happened at about 12:30 p.m. near the intersection of Main and Spring streets. Police are now canvassing the area and hoping to talk to witnesses who saw the shooting, Monfette said.

Although it happened in the middle of the afternoon on a busy street, no one has come forward with a description of the shooter, he said.

Police do have a description of a car that sped away after the incident. Monfette did not have the information about the vehicle immediately available.

Police have found numerous shell casings in a vacant lot on Main Street, across from the intersection of Spring Street. Monfette said all those casings came from one gun but more than one shooter could have been involved since not all firearms eject casings.

Lt. Michael J. Higgins said police continue to probe the shooting, “It’s an active scene,”."

A witness at the scene reported seeing numerous shells in the area of Main and Spring, perhaps as many as 15 to 20.

The damaged truck was seen at the Racing Mart at the corner of Cabot and Main Streets, which is next to Spring Street.

Among this week's questions: Why did you support a $12,000 pay raise for Superintendent Alan Ingram? Watch video

In the latest installment of Ask the Mayor from The Republican, with reporter Peter Goonan and videographer Mark M. Murray:

Opening statements

• 0:00 - Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno opens praising a new anti-youth violence initiative announced by Gov. Deval Patrick. The initiative, as Sarno says, includes toughening gun laws against "gang-bangers."

• 2:00 - Sarno also discusses taking part in Monday's 'Blitz Build', mentioning Springfield's ongoing efforts to "take back our neighborhoods" and knocking down derelict buildings.

Question & answer:

• 2:30 - Why did you support a $12,000 pay raise for school Superintendent Alan Ingram?

Sarno: "It's in his contract, the contract that the financial control board had put together. Dr. Ingram had defferred his last 2 cost of living raises for the past 2 years and the raise was in accordance with other superintendents across the area. More importantly, we have had some pockets of success, but there's obviously more that needs to be done."

• 4:30 - What is the latest news on the city's proposed budget for fiscal year 2012? Has there been progress in reducing the $5.4 million gap? Will you be presenting a budget proposal to the council soon?

Sarno: "I'm going to continue to govern and put across a balanced budget, as I have, that has worked us to get 'A' bond ratings and reserves. Let's face it, in the old days if a mayor did have some reserves, you would blow right through the reserves and worry about it next year. And that's what gets us into fiscal trouble. I'm not going to do that. We've made the tough decisions."

View the video at right to hear Mayor Sarno's complete answers.

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Democrats acknowledged that a bill to repeal the tax breaks would not bring down the price of oil at the gas pump.

Associated PressIn this June 15, 2010 file photo, oil company executives, from left, ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson, Chevron Chairman and CEO John Watson, ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva, Shell Oil President Marvin Odum, and BP America chairman and president Lamar McKay are sworn in on Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats challenged leading oil industry executives Thursday to justify generous tax breaks at a time when people are paying $4 a gallon for gas.

With the CEOs of the five largest oil companies sitting before the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon played a video of a 2005 congressional hearing in which oil company executives said they didn't need generous tax breaks because oil was selling at $55 a barrel. As the hearing commenced, the price per barrel hovered just below $100.

"You all said you didn't need them in 2005," Wyden said. "You seem to be telling a different story today."

Chevron Corp. chairman and CEO John Watson said the companies don't want special tax benefits — just the benefits that other industries get.

But what the oil company chiefs had to say was not the goal for majority Democrats eager to demonstrate before the 2012 election that they stand with consumers against oil companies recording large profits with the help of billions of dollars in tax breaks.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, referred to a large portrait of a dog sitting on a pony to illustrate his thoughts of the proceedings.

"All this hearing is about is providing a justification for tax increases," Hatch said.

"For the president and some of my colleagues," he said, "the answer is always raise taxes. Government spends too much? Raise some taxes. Health care too expensive? Raise some taxes. Gas prices too expensive? I've got it . . . Let's raise some taxes."

Democrats acknowledged that a bill to repeal the tax breaks for the companies testifying Thursday would not bring down the price of oil at the gas pump. And no one suggested that the legislation has a future beyond a talking point. Republicans have enough votes to block it in the Senate and the House is controlled by the GOP.

But Democrats insisted that allowing a hugely profitable industry to continue taking billions of dollars in tax breaks is as credible as the notion of a unicorn galloping into the hearing room.

"The issue is who shares" the burden of economic recovery, said Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., the author of a bill that would repeal the tax breaks for the companies testifying Thursday, demanded an apology from ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva for a press release from the company that said in the headline that the tax cut proposals were "un-American."

Mulva refused, saying that no personal offense was intended.

"Our industry and company are already taxed heavily compared to other industries in the United States," Mulva said.

Flog-the-CEO is a favored tactic of whichever party is in charge on Capitol Hill during a crisis — a reality well known to the powerful chiefs of Big Tobacco, automakers and Wall Street.

But Big Oil seems a particularly inviting target for Democrats seeking to defend their Senate majority in next year's elections.

Thursday's marquee hearing featured the CEOs of Shell Oil Co., ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, BP America and Chevron Corp., five companies that booked profits totaling $36 billion during the first quarter. The Democrats say that with profits that high, the big oil companies wouldn't miss tax breaks that average $2 billion a year.

"My guess is you will be able to protect yourselves. ...You're used to prevailing," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. Oil companies, he added, are "deeply and profoundly committed to sharing nothing."

Gasoline prices are above $4 a gallon in much of the country. The national average is about $3.96 a gallon for regular unleaded, up from $2.90 a gallon a year ago, according to AAA.

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concluded that eliminating the tax breaks would be unlikely to result in higher gasoline prices, which are influenced by a host of factors. The report, released Wednesday, said eliminating the tax breaks would raise about $1.2 billion in 2012. By comparison, the five oil companies had combined revenues of $1.5 trillion, and profits of more than $76 billion, in 2010, the report said.

Menendez' bill would prohibit the five oil companies from taking a tax deduction originally aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing. The bill would also eliminate a tax break that allows oil companies to reduce their American taxes by deducting royalties paid to foreign governments.

Republicans, who now control the House and have enough votes to block legislation in the Senate, oppose tax increases. They are joined on this issue by a handful of Democrats, mainly from oil-producing states. Seven Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to defeat a tax proposal similar to Obama's in February.

On Wednesday, Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana called on fellow Democrats to "stop introducing gimmicks like this that might get you a few political points in the short run, but it is not leading us in the right direction."

At one point, Sgt. Paul Zipper told Baye that investigators had spoken with some of his friends and believed he had a history of lighting fires.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 10:57 this morning.

Anthony P. Baye

NORTHAMPTON - Anthony P. Baye told police that when he looks back on the events of Dec. 27, 2009, his actions seem to be that of a different person.

"It's like it's somebody else," he told state police fire investigator Michael Mazza and state police Sgt. Paul Zipper. These comments were contained in a videotaped interview with Baye that is now the subject of a hearing in Hampshire Superior Court.

Baye ruminations took place after he initialed a map of Northampton showed where fires were set that night. In the ensuing down time, the investigators are seen trying to puzzle out his motive for setting the fires. The Jan. 4 video shown in court Thursday is the subject of a motion by defense lawyers David P. Hoose and Thomas Lesser, who want to suppress the interview along with evidence gathered by police on the night of the fires. Judge Constance Sweeney will determine whether or not the evidence can be presented at trial.

Baye told his interviewers that he did not act out of anger and was not abused as a child. However, he said he suffered inexplicable bouts of anxiety that cause him to sweat. He told of sweating through his clothes in middle school during such episodes.

"I always wanted to find an answer to that," he said.

When he woke up on the morning after the fires, Baye said he asked himself how he could have done the deeds of the previous night, he told investigators.

"What was I doing last night?" he recalled thinking, "Like, why would I do that?"

Police stopped Baye twice on the night of the fires while he was driving in the vicinity and observing that he was wet and smelled of alcohol. It was raining hard that night. The defense maintains that the officers lacked probable cause to stop and question Baye.

Baye also contends that he was denied his right to a lawyer during the Jan. 4 interview in which he admits that the fire at 17 Fair St. fire was a mistake. That fire took the lives of Paul Yeskie, 81, and his son, Paul Yeskie, Jr., 39. Although investigators are shown assuring Baye on several occasions that he could have a lawyer, they persuaded him that it would be in his interest to continue speaking with them.

Baye told police that he drank 13 beers on the night of the fires. Recalling the events of Dec. 29, he said, "It must have been the booze."

Although he conceded under questioning by police that the Fair Street fire was an accident, Baye subsequently denied any memory of setting it. Baye said he "kind of" remembered a box on the porch of the house. Asked by Mazza if he started the fire in that box, Baye said, "amybe vividly there was a box."

Baye also denied setting other fires in the area. The neighborhood had been besieged by suspicious blazes for several years prior to the rash on Dec. 27, 2009. Mazza is seen telling Baye he suspects him of setting some of them, but Baye said he knew nothing about previous fires on Hawley Street.

At one point, Zipper tells Baye that investigators had spoken with some of his friends and believe he has a history of lighting fires. He mentioned one fire near a dike in Northampton that Baye's friends cited. Baye dismissed it as "stupid kid stuff."

Baye, 26, faces two counts of first degree murder and some 40 other crimes in connection with 15 separate fires set that night. In an effort to get Baye to talk, his interrogators repeatedly assured him that they did not believe he intended to hurt anyone. Mazza told Baye that the Yeskie's died because they had modified the house so that the front door was their only exit.

"They couldn't get out of there on a good day, let alone a bad day," he said.

Mazza also said the Yeskies were hoarders and that the debris contributed to the fire's quick spread. Mutual aid from Amherst did not arrive at Fair Streeet for 15 minutes, a time gap he called "inexcusable."

The nearly 10-hour interrogation ends with Baye's arrest. Mazza explains to him that he will be arraigned in Northampton District Court and later indicted in superior court.

More details coming on MassLive.com and in The Republican.

The council will be asked to approve nearly $500,000 in tax breaks for F.W. Webb next week.

Michael A. Fenton

SPRINGFIELD – With a deadline approaching for securing a city tax break, F.W. Webb officials have agreed to meet with East Springfield residents to discuss plans for an $9 million heating and plumbing distribution center and showroom off Roosevelt Avenue.

City Councilor Michael A. Fenton urged company officials to take their relocation and expansion plan to the East Springfield Neighborhood Council before asking the council to approve nearly $500,000 in tax breaks next week.

In moving from its Plainfield Street building to a larger site in the Springfield Smith & Wesson Industrial Park, the company plans to invest about $9 million, and create at eight new jobs immediately, and as many as 40 eventually.

Under an agreement negotiated with the city economic development officials, F.W. Webb would pay $820,000 in taxes over a 10-year period and be exempted from an additional $496,867 .

If the tax incentives win approval from the council, the company hopes to begin construction this summer. Without council approval this month, the company cannot get state approval until at least September, leaving too little time for construction in the fall.

During a meeting of the council’s planning and economic development committee Wednesday, Fenton told F.W. Webb he would not consider voting on the tax exemption until the company discusses its plan with the East Springfield neighborhood group.

“They’ll want to know the truck routes, how many trucks, what the hours (of operation) are,” said Fenton, adding: “There’s still some work to do.”

Councilor Timothy C. Allen added that councilors routinely solicit the views of neighborhood groups on new projects, adding: “It’s just City Council 101.”

The company’s general manager, Michael J. Kennedy, said the new facility would cause minimal disruption to the neighborhood, with only a few trucks leaving and arriving daily. The site has also received environmental approval from the city and state, and is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding wetlands on the site.

Under the plan, the company will purchase 14.3 acres at the city-owned industrial park for $1 million to build a distribution center and showroom in two phases, costing about $8 million. Each phase will be about 65,000 square feet.

If the plan is approved, F.W. Webb will become the second tenant of the industrial park. The city bought the land from Smith & Wesson in 2006, adjacent to the site, and secured its first tenant, Performance Food Group, in 2007.

Based in Bedford, the wholesale plumbing and heating distributor has 70 locations in New England and Northeast, including Springfield, Northampton, Greenfield and Pittsfield; 8 people are currently employed at the Springfield center.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Enrique Sanabria

Enrique C. Sanabria, 71, of Westfield, died Monday. He was born and educated in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, and came to the mainland U.S. when he was 19. Sanabria was a former resident of Springfield, and moved to West Springfield seven years ago. He was employed by the Springfield Department of Public Works, and retired in 2003. Sanabria's hobbies included singing and playing guitar.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Airoldi, Lillian M. (Lemieux)




• 
  Albertine, Mary Esther (Buckley)
  



• 
  Donoghue, Ellen M. (Maybury)
  




• Grassetti, Shirley M. (Green)
  




• 
  Knightly, Frances C. (Cunningham)
  



• 
  Lagasse, Paul




• 
  Larese, Mary T. (Zawada)
  



• 
  Muns Jr., Robert C.
  




• Murray, Alice Teresa
  




• 
  Muscaro, Vincent
  



• 
  O'Connell, Helen Los




• 
  Porter, Elizabeth S. "Lillian" (Walsh)
  



• 
  Rossi, David M.
  




• Sanabria, Enrique C.
  




• 
  Simanski, Francis G. "Fran"
  



• 
  Sokol, Edward J.




• 
  Speer, Edward Jerome
  



• 
  Sullivan, Ellen M.
  




• Wheeler, Benita Renay
  

"You're the confession guy, aren't you?" attorney David Hoose asked state police trooper Michael Mazza.

The Republican / Don TreegerAttorney David P. Hoose (left) stands with his client, Anthony P. Baye, during an appearance in Hampshire Superior Court in December.

NORTHAMPTON - Investigators who interrogated Anthony P. Baye about the Dec. 27, 2009, fires that terrorized Northampton were chosen specially to get a confession from him, Baye's defense team suggested Thursday,

In his cross examination of state police trooper Michael Mazza in Hampshire Superior Court, co-counsel David P. Hoose asked if he and state police Sgt. Paul Zipper were selected to interview Baye on Jan. 4, 2010.

"You're the confession guy, aren't you?" Hoose asked Mazza. "At that point, you're goal is to get a confession."

Hoose and co-counsel Thomas Lesser want to suppress the interview, saying that Baye was denied his right to a lawyer. They also want to exclude evidence gathered by police on the night of the fires. Judge Constance Sweeney will determine whether or not the evidence can be presented at trial.

Mazza and Zipper questioned Baye for about ten hours, ultimately getting him to initial locations on a map of Northampton where he admitted setting fires.

Earlier Thursday, Baye was seen in the video of the interview telling police that when he looks back on the events of Dec. 27, 2009, his actions seem to be that of a
different person.

"It's like it's somebody else," he tells state police fire investigator Michael Mazza and state police Sgt. Paul Zipper.

Baye's ruminations take place after he initials the map. In the ensuing down time, the investigators are seen trying to puzzle out his motives.

Baye told his interviewers that he did not act out of anger and was not abused as a child. He did not stay to watch and of the fires, he said. However, he told the officers he suffers inexplicable bouts of anxiety that cause his hands and feet to sweat. He told of sweating through his clothes in middle school during such episodes.

"I always wanted to find an answer to that," he says.

When he woke up on the morning after the fires, Baye said he asked himself how he could have done the deeds of the previous night.

"What was I doing last night?" he recalled thinking, "Like, why would I do that?"

Police stopped Baye twice on the night of the fires while he was driving in the vicinity. They observed that he was wet and smelled of alcohol. It was raining hard that night. Baye told investigators he had 13 beedrs. The defense maintains that the officers lacked probable cause to stop and question Baye.

Baye also contends that he was denied his right to a lawyer during the Jan. 4 interview, in which he admits that the fire at 17 Fair St. was a mistake. That fire took the lives of Paul Yeskie, 81, and his son, Paul Yeskie, Jr., 39. Although investigators assure Baye several times that he could have a lawyer, they persuade him that it would be in his interest to continue speaking with them.

At one point, Baye attributes his actions on the fatal night to alcohol.

"It must have been the booze," he tells his interrogators.

Police questioned Baye for hours during the interview. Although he conceded to them that the Fair Street fire was an accident, he subsequently denied any memory of setting it. Baye said he "kind of" remembered a box on the porch of the house where Mazza suggested the Fair Street fire started.

"Maybe, vividly there was a box," he said.

Baye also denied setting previous fires in the area. The neighborhood had been besieged by suspicious blazes for several years prior to the rash of blazes on Dec. 27, 2009. Mazza tells Baye he suspects him of setting one on Hawley Street, but Baye says he knew nothing about it.

At one point, Zipper tells Baye that investigators have spoken with some of his friends and believe he has a history of lighting fires. He mentions one fire near a dike in Northampton that Baye's friends cited. Baye dismissed it as "stupid kid stuff."

Baye, 26, faces two counts of first degree murder and some 40 other crimes in connection with 15 separate fires set that night. In an effort to get Baye to talk, his interrogators repeatedly assured him they did not believe he intended to hurt anyone. Mazza told Baye that the Yeskies died because they had modified the house so that the front door was their only exit.

"They couldn't get out of there on a good day, let alone a bad day," he said.

Mazza also said the Yeskies were hoarders and that their debris contributed to the fire's quick spread. Mutual aid from Amherst did not arrive at Fair Street for 15 minutes, a time gap Mazza called "inexcusable."

The nearly ten-hour interrogation ends with Baye's arrest. Mazza explains to him that he will be arraigned in Northampton District Court and later indicted in superior court.

John Whelihan finished the term of his late father on the council in 2009 and is now on the charter study panel.

John G. Whelihan

HOLYOKE – John G. Whelihan, a former city councilor, said he will run for City Council in the fall election.

Whelihan, 45, said he will seek an at-large seat on the council. All terms are two years.

“As I announce my candidacy for the Holyoke City Council, I do so knowing full well the challenges that lie ahead for our great city. However, I’m a firm believer that Holyoke’s attributes make it a city where one can reside and prosper,” Whelihan wrote in an e-mailed statement.

The City Council in May 2009 appointed Whelihan to finish the term of his father, John E. Whelihan, who died May 6, 2009 at the age of 70. The elder Whelihan had been on the City Council for 32 of the previous 40 years.

Instead of running to keep the seat, John G. Whelihan was elected to a commission studying and recommending changes in the city charter.

Whelihan is employed as director of assessments for the town of Belchertown.

Financial accountability will be a focus if he is elected, Whelihan said.

“Due to the economic downturn in the national and state economies, municipal management has become even more vital to the local budget process. As a city councilor, I will strive to protect our local tax dollars from unwise policy decisions and unnecessary spending,” Whelihan said.

“As I campaign throughout the city, I will seek input and suggestions from the residents regarding the specific issues they consider paramount to Holyoke’s future,” Whelihan said.

The City Council has 15 members, consisting of eight at large and seven from wards.

Election day is Nov. 8.

An area around the swans' nesting site has been cordoned off.

Photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanMaria Servidone, 19, of East Longmeadow, is chased by one of the two swans living at Heritage Park in East Longmeadow Wednesday as she and a friend were walking across the grass in the park. The attack occurred one day after a mother reported what she said was an unprovoked attack on her family. One or both of the swans have reportedly been aggressive in trying to protect their egg in a nearby nest.

EAST LONGMEADOW – A Springfield couple who regularly take their son fishing at Heritage Park said they routinely see youths harassing a pair of nesting swans there.

“The kids go over and do it,” said David Ulitsch, sitting near the water’s edge Wednesday afternoon, not far from the spot where the swans had reportedly attacked a Springfield woman and her two young daughters the day before.

“When the kids get out of school and this place gets packed, they instigate the swans,” said Heather Ulitsch.

The swans are nesting along the bank of the pond that is closest to Route 83, also known as North Main St. That area has been cordoned off to keep people away.

The woman told officials that the swans appeared to single out her two young daughters for attack. All three suffered minor injuries.

A photographer with The Republican, meanwhile, captured what appeared to be a swan’s unprovoked attack on a 19-year-old woman, Maria Servidone of East Longmeadow, as she walked near the pond with a friend on Wednesday afternoon.

Servidone, posting later on Masslive.com as Maria_ Servidone_429, stressed that she did nothing to provoke the attack.

“I would like to clear up that I did absolutely nothing to the animal. I do not think the swans should be removed or put down, as I am a huge advocate of preserving wildlife and respecting nature. I am not a foolish swan-botherer. I think I just got caught in a freak moment, and a funny picture happened to be caught.”

Moments before Servidone’s encounter, that same swan went after a surveyor who had been working near the sidewalk, some 40 to 50 yards from the water.

One of the swans could be seen sitting on the nest about an hour later and the other could be seen swimming placidly on the far side of the pond.

Another Springfield woman, Mariovy Gonzalez, said a swan attacked her 5-year-old son was they walked near the water on Saturday morning.

“My son was terrified,” Gonzalez said, adding that the swan was initially on the other side of the pond and rapidly swam over towards them and “It started pecking him.”

The attack, she said, was unprovoked. “We weren’t feeding it or anything,” she said.

Gonzalez said that people working at a nearby plant and bake sale intervened and managed to chase the swans away.

The swans are reportedly under the supervision of the Department of Public Works. Personnel there, however, were not immediately available for comment Thursday.

He will be given the fourth annual award for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in several stage and television productions.

Sam Waterson

STURBRIDGE – Sam Waterston may be best known for his role as Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy on television’s “Law & Order,” but the actor said it was his portrayal of a 19th century circuit lawyer which has interested him the most.

Waterston portrayed of Abraham Lincoln, a circuit lawyer later elected 16th president of the United States, in several stage and television productions.

His work has earned him the fourth annual Ken Burns Lifetime Achievement Award. It will be bestowed upon him on Tuesday at Old Sturbridge Village.

Waterston voiced the role of Lincoln in Burns’ acclaimed documentary, “The Civil War.” He portrayed Lincoln in the Tony Award-winning Broadway play, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” as well as “Lincoln Seen and Heard” at the White House, and Gore Vidal’s television mini-series “Lincoln.”

“The preservation of history is invaluable,” said Waterston, winner of the 2003 Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement awarded annually by the Lincoln Forum. “(Playing Lincoln) has been a really interesting thread in my career.”

While preparing for one of his Lincoln roles, he went to the Library of Congress and one of the librarians there “found out how ill-informed I was,” he recalled.

Staffers brought out all kinds of historical artifacts, including documents on which Lincoln had worked and a cast of his hands. “All that makes you feel a connection to history,” Waterston said.

“The crowning experience” was getting to hold the contents of Lincoln’s pockets the night he was killed. These items included a watch fob made of onyx and gold, fold-up glasses given to him by his law partner, a wallet and editorials critical of him from Southern newspapers. “It was stunning to have history in my hands,” the 70-year-old actor said.

Arts are important to the preservation of history, Waterston contended, because “they give you a channel, a road, to the past.”

In addition to the role of Lincoln, Waterston added narration to the Burns documentary, “Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery,” serving as the voice of Thomas Jefferson. He also played Jefferson in Burns’ documentary about the third president of the United States.

Burns and Old Sturbridge Village will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Waterston in the Stephen M. Brewer Theater at Old Sturbridge Village at 8 p.m.

Old Sturbridge Village honored Burns, a documentary filmmaker, in 2008 for his commitment to making history accessible to the public. Through the annual Ken Burns Lifetime Achievement Award, he and Old Sturbridge Village continue to honor individuals who have made a significant contribution to the preservation of history through the arts.

In addition to Burns, previous recipients are presidential history Doris Kearns Goodwin and “John Adams” actress Laura Linney.

Waterston said he was “very honored by this (award) particularly because of the name it bears.”

The Cambridge-born actor makes his home in Connecticut. He is a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers, Richard Warren and Elizabeth Walker.

Nominated for Broadway’s 1994 Tony Award as Best Actor for playing Abraham Lincoln in a revival of Robert E. Sherwood’s “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” Waterston has earned numerous honors including Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards and an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984’s “The Killing Fields.”

Asked if he has a favorite among the characters he has portrayed, Waterston said there are too many to list. “So far I have had a really interesting career, and I hope it keeps up this way. The characters I have been given to play are so interesting.”

Portraying Jack McCoy on “Law & Order” between 1994 and 2010 had a impact on the actor when he was “deeply immersed in it” because as a district attorney who prosecuted the offenders, he dealt with scripts with violent story lines about heinous crimes. “I have nothing but admiration for the people who do it (prosecute crimes) in real life,” Waterston said. “It’s a grim part of life. It gets your attention.”

But, he quipped, playing McCoy “hasn’t made me a good lawyer; nobody should call me.”

Viewers have not tired of “Law & Order’s spin-offs: “Law & Order: SVU,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Law & Order: LA.”

The series are based on a “good idea” to take stories from real life,” Waterston said. “As long as there is an appetite (for the series), there will never be a dearth of stories.”

A practicing Episcopalian, Waterston narrated the 1999 biographical documentary of Episcopal civil rights martyr Jonathan Myrick Daniels, “Here Am I, Send Me.” An active humanitarian, he supports such organizations such as Oceana, Refugees International and The United Way.

“I think it’s just natural to do this” service, he said.

For more information about the Ken Burns Lifetime Achievement Award festivities go to www.osv.org