A new-look Revolution takes on Sporting Kansas City in Foxborough.

Associated PressThe New England Revolution enters a new era Saturday, without the face of the team, Shairie Joseph, at right.

By MIKE SCANDURA


FOXBOROUGH - Emotion
al.

That would be the appropriate adjective to use when describing this past week for the
New England Revolution, who
host Sporting Kansas City tonight.

First, the Revolution (6-10-5)
suffered a brutal 2-1 loss at
Philadelphia Sunday (Philadelphia scored the tying goal
on a penalty shot which resulted from a dubious call by the
referee and the winning goal
in the 90th minute).

Then, on Wednesday, New
England traded captain Shalrie Joseph to Chivas USA in
exchange for midfielder Blair
Gavin plus Chivas second-
round pick in the 2013 MLS
SuperDraft and allocation
money.

In a sense, Joseph has been
the face of the franchise and
departs holding numerous
team records.

The emotion involved in the
decision to trade Joseph was
evident on coach Jay Heaps face even two days after the
transaction.

When you trade away
somebody like Shalrie, who always be a legend for this
team, it is not a decision made
lightly; the Longmeadow resident said. It is not a decision
made overnight. It weighed on
the organization. It weighed
on me personally. But when you try to take
emotion out of it and you
weigh the positives with the
negatives, on this one it was
the right move for the organization now and going forward.

Heaps said the trade should
be viewed from more than one
angle.

"I think you have to look at
this trade from several angles, he said. If you were to
say it was Shalrie for Blair, it
would be unfair to each player. It's about what it means for
us now in terms of on the field
where we feel we get younger
(Joseph is 34 while Gavin is
23) and faster, in the near
term.

"In the long term we felt we
got a pretty good package
from Chivas."

Midfielder Kelyn Rowe
views the trade from both
sides of the proverbial ball.

"Shalrie was the face of the
franchise, a mentor and a
great teammate, Rowe said.
"It's a loss, but it's also a gain in
that we're gaining Blair Gavin,
who's a great player and a
midfielder as well.

"We're moving forward."

The Revolution's ability to
move forward against Sporting Kansas City (11-7-4) is an
entirely different matter (the
teams played a 0-0 draw on
July 21 at Livestrong Sporting
Park).

Among other things, the
Revs are 0-3-1 in their last four
matches and nine losses have
been by one goal.

"The losses and ties definitely get down on us; Rowe said.
"But we like to look at the positives and think that we had so
many chances in all of those
games. Our shoulders are
heavy but our heads are high.

"We;re looking to go into
Saturday with full pressure
and the mindset that we're
going to finish those chances.
We've really been striving on
that this week, along with getting the ball out of the box defensively - all the way out, rather than giving second
chances to the other team.

Heaps has praised his
team's resiliency which, understandably, will be put to a
severe test tonight.

"We lost a heartbreaker on
Sunday so there's a lot of emotion, he said. "How do we
come out on Saturday? That
could show our sign of resiliency. If we come out and play
the right way and get three
points at home, that would
prove resiliency just not in the
way it's shown before like
against Seattle at home where
we had to get a goal in the last
minute.

"We've left a lot of points on
the table. It's gut-wrenching.
But I've told the guys, we're as
good as our record shows.
We're in ninth-place in our
conference. That's not good
enough. Maybe all these contributing factors will show
what players step up to the
challenge. Obviously, we traded Shalrie, so there's a lot of
room for that resilient player
to step up and be accountable.

Singer Randy Blythe was detained when he returned to the Czech Republic for a 2010 incident.

Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe

PRAGUE (AP) — The frontman of the U.S. heavy metal band Lamb of God has been released from a Czech prison on $400,000 bail as police investigate him for allegedly pushing a fan off a stage who later died of his injuries, an official said Friday.

A Prague court on Thursday dismissed a prosecution request that Randy Blythe be banned from leaving the country. Blythe's lawyer, Martin Radvan, said the singer had flown out of the Czech capital for the United States on Friday. The band is based in Richmond, Virginia.

"I'm relieved to be out of Pankrac jail," Blythe told the private Czech Nova television at Prague's international airport. "It wasn't bad but it wasn't exactly fun."

The 41-year-old was arrested on June 27 when he returned to the Czech Republic for another gig, not realizing that he was being investigated for bodily harm resulting in death during a concert he gave in Prague in 2010, said Radvan.

Blythe told Czech Nova it was "very tragic" the young man had died. "I feel very bad that a fan of my band is dead, that his family has to go through it. That's terrible. I feel awful for them," he said.

Blythe, who has not been charged with a crime, said he was not aware of what had happened to the fan at Prague's Abaton club that year and was surprised to be arrested when he returned to the Czech Republic to play a show scheduled for June 28, said Radvan.

"We don't know yet if (the death) was caused by our client or in a different way," the lawyer said, adding that the police investigation is unlikely to be completed until winter.

Radvan said police believe that during the 2010 concert that the audience member climbed onto the stage and Blythe pushed him off. The fan hit the floor with his head and later died of the injuries, police said.

Martina Lhotakova, a spokeswoman for Prague's Municipal Court, said Blythe was released Thursday when the court upheld a lower court decision that had rejected a request by prosecutors to keep him in custody, fearing he wouldn't return.

Blythe told media Friday that if requested he would be back. "If it's necessary for me to return to Prague to go to this court thing, I certainly will," he said.

Tommy Streat, a friend of Blythe's, organized vigils in support of the singer in Richmond and in Washington, D.C., while the singer was imprisoned. Streat cautioned others not to judge Blythe and the band by their stage personas or their genre, with its thrashing guitars and often dark subjects. He told of a regular guy who cuts his grass, makes time for fans, who helped a homeless man find a place to live and once spent several hours talking a man out of committing suicide.

"The Randy Blythe we know truly has not a bit of malice or ability to cause that kind of harm or take that type of action toward anybody," Streat said.

Streat said Blythe's release begins his long process to clear his name.

"It's fantastic that he's gotten through this first step of getting the bail finalized and for everyone to realize that he's not a flight risk," Streat said. "He's an international artist who can't disappear. It's a shame it took a month for that to be agreed upon.

"The wheels of justice there move a little bit slower than here," he said.

The city has the right to accept or reject the lone proposal for the Cornerstone site, under bid guidelines.

Republican file photoThe former Cornerstone Lounge, shown here in a file photo from November, 2010, has attracted just one interested bidder.

SPRINGFIELD – The city’s effort to sell the Cornerstone Lounge, a long-vacant, boarded, tax-title property in East Springfield, has attracted a single offer – $750.

Lamoureux LLC, doing business as Genden Auto Parts, which is adjacent to the Cornerstone on Page Boulevard, submitted the lone proposal to buy and redevelop the site by Friday’s deadline. The proposal was opened at 2 p.m., by the Office of Procurement at City Hall, with just the bidder and price revealed.

Kathleen Brown, president of the East Springfield Neighborhood Council, said Genden’s has proposed tearing down the building and replacing it with parking that is needed.

“I am delighted the Genden put in a bid and we are hoping it will be accepted,” Brown said. “It is consistent with what the neighborhood has been talking about for use of the property.”

The proposal will be reviewed by a city-appointed, three-member selection committee.

The city has the right to accept or reject the lone bid. A procurement official said she could not comment pending the review.

The business owner was unavailable for comment.

The Cornerstone Lounge property, located at 632 Page Blvd., at the corner of Osborne Terrace, was taken by the city for nonpayment of taxes in 2005 from former owners James J. Regan and Timothy J. Hourihan.

Brown said residents are looking forward to the property being redeveloped and blighted conditions being eliminated.

The parking is needed by Genden’s and the East Springfield Branch library, Brown said.

The site has been a “terrible eyeore,” she said.

The Cornerstone is located across the street from the Westinghouse property, a 41-acre site that is the proposed location of a resort casino. Ameristar Casinos based in Las Vegas purchased the Westinghouse site for $16 million in January.

The review committee will forward its recommendation, anticipated by Aug. 15, to Mayor Domenic J. Sarno.

When a reader asked Warren, who lives in Cambridge, what she feels are the problems facing the Pioneer Valley, employment was at the top of her list.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren answers questions from the MassLive.com readers on Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 from her campaign headquarters in Somerville, Mass. (Photo courtesy of the Elizabeth Warren campaign)

More politics news

First Lady Michelle Obama talks achievements, values in fundraiser speech at Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield

With more than 130 in attendance, first lady Michelle Obama delivered a stump speech aimed at energizing the local Democratic base as she campaigned for her husband's re-election efforts.

• Obama, Romney comparison: Where do the 2012 presidential candidates stand on the issues?
• Scott Brown, Elizabeth Warren launch tours to seek support of Massachusetts businesses, workers
• Former Democratic mayor of Worcester stumps for Sen. Scott Brown in TV ad

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren discussed rebuilding Western Massachusetts and helping small businesses, among other topics, during a chat with the MassLive.com readers on Friday.

Warren, who is taking on incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts, said that in and around Springfield, addressing the problems means taking a look at the short and long-term solutions.

When a reader asked Warren, who lives in Cambridge, what she feels are the problems facing the Pioneer Valley, employment was at the top of her list.

"Let's start with jobs. Springfield has a higher unemployment rate than the state as a whole. We can deal with that in two ways: short-term and long-term," Warren wrote. "Short-term, we need a jobs bill to put people to work, and those working people will have paychecks to spend in local businesses, which helps jump start the local economy. Last fall, Congress voted on three jobs bills in a row that would have meant jobs here in Western Massachusetts, but Scott Brown and the Republicans blocked all three bills."

As for long-term solutions, Warren said that continued investment in infrastructure, such as the Union Station transportation facility and developing the Knowledge Corridor among the dozens of area colleges and universities, would attract businesses and pay off for years to come.

One reader voiced to Warren his dissatisfaction over her declining to participate in two community forums on rural issues in Chesterfield and Orange last fall.

"As a senator, you have to represent the whole state and not just the cities," the reader said. "Given that 9.2% of the state’s 6.5 million residents live in rural towns, why have you not campaigned in rural Massachusetts?"

Warren's response involved defending her campaigning schedule and saying that she has been hearing similar concerns in small and large communities.

"I've been campaigning all over the state--big cities and small towns, north and south, east and west. And I'm hearing a lot of the same issues across the state: What are our plans for building a future for ourselves and our kids?" Warren wrote. "When I'm out, we talk a lot about investments in education, in roads and bridges, in communications and power--things we will need for all our children to prosper."

On the topic of tax reform, another reader asked Warren how much she felt the wealthiest Americans should pay in taxes, while citing a Congressional Budget Office report that showed from 1979 to 2009, the average individual income tax rate for the top quintile fell from 15.9% to 13.4%, after peaking at 17.6% in 2000.

Warren said that she believes in taxpayers paying the same rate, regardless of income.

"I think billionaires should pay taxes at the same rate as their secretaries," she wrote. "When this came to a vote in the Senate in the spring, Scott Brown voted against the Buffett Rule, saying it was fine with him to let billionaires pay at a much lower rate."

When Brown voted with Republicans against the bill in April, he said that the legislation "is a political stunt – it will raise in one year only enough revenue to pay for less than a day of federal spending. It doesn't create a single new job, or cut the national debt."

One reader who identified herself as a second generation small business owner asked Warren about a statement she made at a gathering last August which has since been reiterated by President Barack Obama and attacked by Brown and the presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

In August 2011, Warren said "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. You built a factory out there, good for you…but you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate."

When Obama made a similar statement recently, the Republicans used it to paint their opponents as foes of small business, although Warren has said and repeated in her response to the reader, that the opposite is true.

"When I get the chance, I talk about how Washington is rigged against small businesses. Right now, there are profitable companies in the Fortune 500 that pay little or nothing in taxes. They get special breaks because they can hire armies of lobbyists and lawyers to create special deals for them or loopholes that they can take advantage of," Warren wrote. "When those giant companies park their money overseas or take advantage of other loopholes, they leave it to small businesses and working families to pick up the slack. That isn't fair to people like you who are working hard to build a future."

The exchange, however, prompted the Brown campaign to fire off a press release saying that she is the "originator of the 'you didn't build that' philosophy."

Another reader referenced the partisan gridlock that has virtually crippled the federal government, leading to few pieces of legislation being passed. While Brown has reinforced his image as an independent legislator, Warren has not addressed the idea of bipartisanship much, until now.

"I will work with anyone--Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian--so long as they are fighting for working families. The middle class is getting hammered, and I'm running for the Senate to try to turn that around," Warren wrote. "I headed up a bipartisan panel that took on some of the most contentious issues during the financial crisis. We didn't agree all the time, but we were often unanimous. I focused on the things we could agree on, the basic principles, and worked out from there."

Brown has agreed to participate in a chat with the MassLive.com readers but is yet to schedule a date.

The honor also comes with $1 million in federal money, $200,000 a year over five years. That’s enough funding. He said it will allow him to hire two graduate students for a new total of six and possibly a post-doctoral student.

Photo by Pete Souza / The White House UMass scientist Alejandro L. Briseno shakes the hand of President Barack Obama at the 2011 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers recipients in the East Room of the White House, July 31. . 

AMHERST – Alejandro L. Briseno’s work as a polymer scientist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will lead one day to more efficient solar panels and LCD display screens.

Briseno, 40, hopes it will also lead to a new crop of young Latino scientists, especially ones growing up now in tough neighborhoods like his own Baldwin Park section of Los Angeles.

“It’s difficult for someone to make it from Baldwin Park,” Briseno said last week after returning from the White House where he was honored by President Barack Obama as an outstanding early-career scientist. “It’s a place that in the 70s and 80s had a lot of gangs. I represent Baldwin Park through my success. I don’t forget where I came from.”

He was a freshman in college when his father was murdered, shot six times in the head. Police never identified the killer.

“I faced some challenges after that for the next six years of my life. I made a decision to pursue science,” he said.

He worked four jobs to get his way through Cal State Los Angeles. He flipped burgers, worked in telecommunications, gardened. He worked in the university’s greenhouses. He’s the only one in his family of five children to go to college.

He earned an undergraduate degree, before earning a master’s degree in chemistry at UCLA in 2006 and a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Washington in 2008.

Briseno joined the faculty at UMass in 2009, drawn he said by the strength of the polymer science department.

Tuesday, he was at the White House being honored to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the federal government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. That award followed his prestigious Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award.

He wasn’t the only scientist with UMass ties honored with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers Tuesday.

Maria Urso of the U.S. Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine earned her doctorate in kinesiology at UMass Amherst in 2006, according to the University.

Briseno’s award came with a handshake from the president.

“He told me my research is very important to the future of the country,” Briseno said.

It also comes with $1 million in federal money, $200,000 a year over five years. That’s enough funding. He said it will allow him to hire two graduate students for a new total of six and possibly a post-doctoral student.

“This money came at a crucial time because we are discovering a lot of new phenomena in our group,” he said. “This is a big deal. We have a very strong program here.”

Applications for his technology might include lightweight, durable solar panels that could be sewn into a soldier’s equipment or clothing and used to power the soldier’s electronic devices.

“Or sew it into a woman’s handbag so she can charge up her phone,” he said. “Imagine having something like that on the dashboard of your car, or on the roof of your car. But in order to do this we need to understand these materials on a fundamental level.” 

The work is now expected to be finished at the Atkins corner in the middle of August.

Photo by Diane Lederman/The RepublicanState Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg talks with Amherst resident Robert Grose at Atkins Friday. Rosenberg and state Rep. Ellen Story held joint hours at the market to help during road construction outside.

AMHERST – While traffic moved slowly and heavy equipment pawed at the earth outside Atkins Country Atkins Country Farms Market state Rep. Ellen Story and state Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg held court in the air conditioned dining room.

While the Amherst democrats have served the area for decades they have never held office hours together before.

But Friday they wanted to do what they could for the market that has seen a 30 percent drop in business since the end of May when the westerly end of Bay Road and about 400 feet of the adjoining sections of Route 116 in both directions were closed.

Atkins Country Farms Market sits at the corner the road project intended to improve safety and traffic flow with roundabouts at Route 116 and West Bay Road and at Route 116 and Bay Road.

The joint office hour venture was Rosenberg’s partner Bryon Hefner’s idea, Story said.

“With all the stimulus money, isn’t there something we can do?” Story said she was asked. But there is no money.

Hefner suggested the session would be a way “to support the store and to show it’s open.”

Pauline Lannon, the market president, has said some people don’t know the market has remained open during the latest round of construction.

She said she appreciated the legislators’ appearance. “Any type of announcement such as this helps. It makes us look like an all around business.”

A dozen, meanwhile, stopped to visit with the pair, more than they would get on their own.

Ellie Fraser stopped to thank them for coming. “Atkins…it’s a resource in Amherst it’s very important.” She worries about it.
Others took the opportunity of proximity to visit.

Wilfred Morin from Northampton, who was working on the road project for the state Department of Transportation, stopped on his lunch hour wearing his reflective gear.
He told the two “it’s going to look amazing” when the work is finished. State officials are now saying the roundabouts should be operational the middle of this month.

Photo by Diane Lederman / The RepublicanState Rep. Ellen Story, D-Amherst, talks with Randall W. Phillis, president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors at the University of Massachusetts, at Atkins Friday. She and State Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, held joint hours at the market to help during road construction outside.

Morin also wanted to let the pair know he is concerned about Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that allows unions and individuals to donate unlimited funds to Super Political Action Committees. “The only thing I’m worried about are the super PACS, they seem dangerous,” he said. Rosenberg said the state legislature had just approved a resolution calling for the U.S. Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Randall W. Phillis, president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors at the University of Massachusetts, talked about higher education funding and suggested offering a new lottery game in which the jackpot would pay off a student’s loan, with other prizes paying different amounts.

He also suggested that proceeds from a dedicated game be used to pay off student debt.

Story and Rosenberg found the idea intriguing. Rosenberg pointed out that would require a statutory change since the money now is dedicated to municipalities.

Story and Rosenberg said they liked the informal format of the hour here. “It’s like gathering around a cracker barrel at the general store,” Rosenberg said.

A woman was arrested after a car crash and a fight at Westfield Road and Homestead Avenue.

File photo

HOLYOKE – A car crash at Westfield Road and Homestead Avenue Friday drew a dozen cruisers after a driver and one of his relatives tussled with police, police said.

A female relative of one of the drivers was arrested and was being charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, Sgt. Kevin Thomas said. He said her name was unavailable because police were in the process of booking her.

The driver of one of the vehicles was taken to the hospital, said Thomas, but it was unclear kind of injury or illness the driver had.

It was unclear how many vehicles were involved in the accident. After the crash, the female relative of a driver was being disruptive with police and an ambulance attendant, so she was arrested, Thomas said.

A bystander in the parking lot of a small plaza nearby that includes Strum’s Deli and Manny’s Pizza & Grinders said a crash occurred, two men began a fist fight and multiple cruisers soon covered the scene.

Police were called to the scene about 7 p.m., Thomas said.

Quiet overnight with isolated thunderstorms appearing tomorrow afternoon.

Skies stay mainly clear, but it will be another mild and muggy night with areas of fog developing late. Saturday will be nearly the same as today...near 90 degrees and humid under partly cloudy skies. Just like today, an isolated shower/thunderstorm is possible later in the afternoon, but most of the day will be dry.

Sunday is a bit of a different story. A more substantial cold front will be moving through the Great Lakes region and into New England. This will trigger a good chance of showers and thunderstorms...some of which may be severe in the evening and overnight. Some leftover showers stick around for Monday morning, and then we're looking pretty nice for much of the workweek.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, mild and muggy, areas of fog, low 66.

Saturday: Hazy sunshine, humid, isolated afternoon showers/thunderstorms, high 90.

Sunday: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, heaviest in the evening, severe storms possible, high 86.

Monday: Rain ends early, mostly sunny afternoon, high 85.

Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni said the sentencing does not relate to any of the crimes he is alleged to have committed after his escape from the Massachusetts Criminal Institute.

Tamik Kirkland

WOBURN – Tamik J. Kirkland pleaded guilty Friday to escaping from a minimum security prison, but is still awaiting trial for murder and other crimes he is accused of committing during a revenge-driven break.

The escape conviction nets the Springfield resident an additional five years in prison.

Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said Friday’s sentencing only relates to Kirkland’s escape, not any of the crimes he is alleged to have committed after the April 24, 2011, escape from the Massachusetts Criminal Institute in Shirley, a minimum security prison.

Kirkland still has to answer in Hampden Superior Court for a slew of charges from his arrest on April 30, 2011, including murder and multiple counts of armed assault with intent to murder, home invasion, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, as well as multiple counts of unlawful weapons possession.

The trial for those charges is expected to begin in the fall.

Kirkland on Friday admitted to escaping from MCI-Shirley, where he had been sentenced in 2009 to serve a 2½- to 4-year sentence for possessing a large-capacity firearm. The additional 5-year sentence on the escape charge will kick in once he completes the remainder of his sentence on the original 2009 conviction.

Mastroianni said because the charges against Kirkland were for offenses committing in two separate jurisdictions, Middlesex and Hampden counties, it required two prosecutions.

The prosecution in Middlesex County had “a narrow and specific focus” on the escape, he said. The trial did not introduce any of the charges against Kirkland in Hampden County.

Kirkland’s escape came one day after his mother was injured in a Ringgold Street shooting. Authorities allege that Kirkland escaped in order to return to Springfield to seek revenge on those who shot his mother.

Six days after the escape, Kirkland is accused of firing several shots into the Bill Brown House of Beauty barbershop, 945 State St., critically injuring the barber and killing a customer, Sheldon Innocent, of Wilbraham.

Authorities have said that neither the barber nor Innocent had anything to do with the shooting of Kirkland’s mother.

After the State Street shooting, Kirkland ran to Cambridge Street where he tried to escape by hiding in the trunk of a friend’s car.

After police surrounded the vehicle Kirkland jumped out of the trunk and fired multiple shots at police. A state trooper and a Springfield police officer were each hit but escaped injury to do their Kevlar protective vests, police said.

Kirkland was shot six times before he was taken into custody.

A state investigation into the escape from MCI-Shirley revealed procedural errors and misconduct by staff led to his escape. The investigation also revealed Kirkland had been given a cell phone, a forbidden item for prison inmates, by an employee of a prison vendor who officials said had had an “improper and intimate relationship” with Kirkland.

Two of Mastroianni’s assistant district attorneys, Matthew Shea and Donna Donato, were sworn in as special prosecutors in Middlesex County so they could lead the case against him for the escape charge.

Mastroianni said he reached agreement with Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. for the special prosecutor.

“I think it is important to have a continuity of our office at every stage of the prosecution.”

Mastroianni said he will lead the prosecution against Kirkland when the trial opens in Hampden County this fall.

Here are some highlights from Day 7 in London. Watch video

TRACK

Olympic Stadium was packed for the first time since the opening ceremony, and heptathlete Jessica Ennis gave the delirious crowd exactly what it was hoping to see.

Ennis finished the 100-meter hurdles in 12.54 seconds, the fastest time ever in the heptathlon's first event and the highlight of a raucous opening session for track and field. [VIEW PHOTOS]

SWIMMING

Michael Phelps' last individual race at the Olympics ended like so many of the ones before it — with his hands on the wall before everyone else in the pool.

Phelps rallied to win the 100-meter butterfly for his third gold of the London Games and No. 17 of his career. The American was next-to-last at the turn but closed strong to finish in 51.21 seconds, just ahead of Chad le Clos of South Africa and Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia. Phelps' final Olympic race will be the 4x100 medley relay Saturday.

Phelps' 21st medal was part of another big night at the pool for the U.S., led by a pair of teenagers.

Missy Franklin set a world record in the 200 backstroke for the 17-year-old's third gold in London. And right after Phelps was done, 15-year-old Katie Ledecky — the youngest member of the U.S. team — nearly broke the world record while winning the 800 freestyle, denying Britain's Rebecca Adlington a repeat before her home fans.

Florent Manaudou of France took the 50 freestyle in 21.34 seconds. American Cullen Jones grabbed the silver medal and Brazil's Cesar Cielo was third.

The Oscar-winner said he hoped Romney would restore "a decent tax system that we need badly ... so that there's a fairness and people are not pitted against one."

APClint Eastwood

SUN VALLEY, Idaho (AP) — Clint Eastwood just made Mitt Romney's day.

The "Dirty Harry" star and Oscar-winning director of "Unforgiven" and "Million Dollar Baby" endorsed the Republican presidential candidate Friday night during a Sun Valley fundraiser.

"I think the country needs a boost," Eastwood told The Associated Press as he joined other Romney supporters for the private campaign event.

In February, Eastwood told Fox News that he wasn't supporting any politician at that time. Some saw the "halftime in America" ad he made for the Super Bowl as a nod toward President Barack Obama. Eastwood responded then by saying he was not "politically affiliated" with the president.

"Now more than ever do we need Gov. Romney. I'm going to be voting for him," Eastwood told Romney supporters Friday night.

"He just made my day," Romney said. "What a guy."

Standing at Romney's side, Eastwood said he was filming "Mystic River" in Massachusetts almost a decade ago when he first saw political advertisements featuring Romney, who was running for governor at the time.

"I said, God, this guy, he's too handsome to be governor, but he does look like he could be president," Eastwood joked. "As the years have gone by I began to think even more so about that."

Eastwood, 82, said he hoped Romney would restore "a decent tax system that we need badly ... so that there's a fairness and people are not pitted against one another as who's paying taxes and who isn't."

The actor and director instantly became Romney highest-profile celebrity supporter. Romney has also earned the endorsement of Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight and rock star Kid Rock.

A campaign spokesman could not immediately say whether Eastwood would play an active role in the campaign.

About 325 people paid as much as $25,000 apiece to attend the event. Eastwood is a part-time resident of Sun Valley.

Hundreds of people were told to leave their homes in at least four counties, while smoke and flames prompted authorities to close parts of Interstate 44, the main roadway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and two state highways.

A smoke surrounds home during a large wildfire Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 in Luther, Okla. A wildfire whipped by gusty, southerly winds swept through rural woodlands north and south of Oklahoma City on Friday, burning several homes as firefighters struggled to contain it in 113-degree heat. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Sarah Phipps) TABLOIDS OUT

NOBLE, Okla. — Wildfires whipped by gusty, southerly winds swept through rural woodlands north and south of Oklahoma City on Friday, burning dozens of homes as firefighters struggled to contain some of the fires amid 113-degree heat.

Hundreds of people were told to leave their homes in at least four counties, while smoke and flames prompted authorities to close parts of Interstate 44, the main roadway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and two state highways.

"A man refused to leave. From what I know, he wanted to protect his property, but your life has to be more valuable than property," Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel said late Friday night.

The sheriff said at least 25 homes, a daycare center and numerous outbuildings had burned in a fire that may have been deliberately set near Luther, a town about 20 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.

Deputies were looking into reports about passengers in a pickup truck who were seen throwing out newspapers that had been set on fire. By Friday night, the blaze had spread across 80 square miles.

About 40 structures were destroyed by a blaze near Tulsa. And yet another blaze destroyed at least 25 structures, including a handful of homes, after starting near Noble, about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City, and moving toward Norman, home to the University of Oklahoma.

"I loaded the kids up, grabbed my dogs, and it didn't even look like I had time to load the livestock, so I just got out of there," said Bo Ireland, who lives a few miles from where the Noble-area fire started. "It looked to me that, if the wind shifted even a little bit, I would be in the path of that fire. It was just too close."

There were no immediate reports of injuries or livestock losses.

Dayle Bishop said he may not have made it out of his home had a woman not knocked on his door and woken him up. Standing in a convenience store parking lot about 2 miles away from his home, he was pessimistic about its chances.

"I know it's gone," said Bishop, who works nights as a nurse. "Didn't even have time to get anything out." But he noted, "it's just stuff."

Charles Wright was with his daughter, Christina, along with their cat, at a makeshift evacuation center doubling as a staging area for fire engines, ambulances and other emergency equipment. He said law enforcement ordered them to leave their home in Norman.

"Praying for miracles. Praying for the best, that's all we can do," said Wright, who managed to pack some clothes, jewelry and legal papers before fleeing.

Ruth Hood splashed water onto two Chihuahua puppies that she grabbed along with several other animals and her children, and left as flames burned in her neighbor's yard. She said she couldn't be sure her home would survive.

"No guarantee," Hood said.

With the ongoing drought, high temperatures and gusty winds, it took little for fires to begin and spread — and there was little crews could do to fight them.

"It's difficult for the firefighters to get into the area because it's heavily wooded on either side of the smaller roads. When the winds are blowing 25 mph it just blows the embers and fireballs across the roads as if they weren't even there," said Jerry Lojka with the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

At mid-afternoon Friday, the temperature in Norman hit 113 degrees, and winds were gusting at 24 mph. "I can tell you the temperatures and the wind are not helping the situation at all," said Meghan McCormick, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland County Sheriff's office.

Russell Moore, 53, who lives in the Noble area, said he was outside in his yard when a sheriff's deputy drove down the road and told people to leave. He and his son went to a shelter set up at Noble City Hall.

"About all we saw was smoke and a little bit of ash raining down from the sky," Moore said. "Everybody was piling into their vehicles and leaving as we were."

Lojka said an Oklahoma National Guard helicopter has been dispatched to the fast-moving blaze in Luther. He also said helicopters were helping ground crews with a fire near Mannford and Drumright in Creek County. Helicopters from the National Guard and the Bureau of Indian Affairs were fighting a fire in Creek County.

The state was monitoring 11 fires by Friday afternoon. Gov. Mary Fallin announced a statewide burn ban as the fire danger heightened. She previously had announced a state of emergency for all 77 counties due to the extreme drought.

___

Associated Press writers Rochelle Hines and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

At the Stop & Shop on Farmington Avenue on Friday, employees called police after noticing a man, identified as 25-year-old Rodolfo Tamaniz-Cruz, following women around the store and setting down a backpack as he pretended to shop, according to NBC Connecticut.Tamaniz-Cruz put a cell phone in the backpack and recorded videos of 11 women under their skirts.

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - For the second time in as many days, police in West Hartford have arrested a man for allegedly filming up women's skirts at a grocery store.

On Thursday, police charged a Hartford man with filming up the skirts and dresses of six women with his cell phone at the Whole Foods Market on Raymond Road.

At the Stop & Shop on Farmington Avenue on Friday, employees called police after noticing a man, identified as 25-year-old Rodolfo Tamaniz-Cruz, following women around the store and setting down a backpack as he pretended to shop, according to NBC Connecticut.Tamaniz-Cruz put a cell phone in the backpack and recorded videos of 11 women under their skirts.

"In light of yesterday's incident from Whole Foods they (the employees) thought it might have some similarities so they called us," Sgt. Michael Alquist told NBC.

Tamaniz-Cruz was later arrested and charged with voyeurism and breach of peace.

Video from NBC Connecticut

View Larger Map

The reenactment is scheduled to run all day Saturday and Sunday at Old Sturbridge Village. Organizers expect 5,000 to 7,000 visitors will see the reenactment.

STURBRIDGE, Mass. — Eight hundred people representing British and Colonial troops and their allies are expected to participate this weekend in New England's largest Revolutionary War reenactment.

The reenactment is scheduled to run all day Saturday and Sunday at Old Sturbridge Village. Organizers expect 5,000 to 7,000 visitors will see the reenactment.

Events will include a drilling and inspection of British and American troops, a cannon demonstration, a children's musket drill, fife and drum music, and a parade by the American and allied troops.

A new fruit fly has reportedly been found in western Massachusetts. WGGB reports that the fly lays its eggs under the skin of ripening fruit - and once the larvae is inside it's impossible to treat the crop.

• Military brought prostitutes to Colombian hotel [Associated Press]




• Olympic Viewing: NBC's poorly timed commercial [Associated Press]




• Hartford firefighter charged with running drug factory [NBC Connecticut]




• Swine flu warning issued [Warren (Ohio) Tribune Chronicle]
• First lady pumps up crowd at colonial [Berkshire Eagle]




• Katie Ledecky, 15, makes big splash with Olympic gold medal in 800 meters [Washington Post]




• U.N. to send first food aid to flood-hit North Korea [Reuters]




• New fruit fly found in Western Massachusetts [abc 40/Fox 6]







• Read more News Links »






• Do you have News Links? Send them our way or tweet them to @masslivenews

NOTE: Users of modern browsers can open each link in a new tab by holding 'control' ('command' on a Mac) and clicking each link.

Following months of planning, tryouts and camps to decide who could take part in the dangerous challenge, the record breakers squeezed into six aircraft and launched themselves into the air at 18,500 feet. Flying at such a high altitude presents a risk of altitude sickness, so the skydivers and pilots used oxygen tanks aboard the planes.

In this image provided by Brian Buckland, 138 skydivers form a massive snowflake formation Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 over Ottawa, Ill. Three judges representing the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the international air sports agency, certified that 138 skydivers created the formation over Ottawa, about 80 miles southwest of Chicago. It took 15 attempts over three days for the team to break the previous record of 108 skydivers, which was set in 2009. (AP Photo/Brian Buckland)

OTTAWA, Ill. — Falling at speeds of up to 220 mph, nearly 140 skydivers shattered the vertical skydiving world record as they flew heads-down in a massive snowflake formation in northern Illinois.

Three judges representing the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the international air sports agency, certified that 138 skydivers created the formation Friday evening over Ottawa, about 80 miles southwest of Chicago. It took 15 attempts over three days for the team to break the previous record of 108 skydivers, which was set in 2009.

"I feel amazing," Rook Nelson, an organizer and the owner of Skydive Chicago where the record was broken, said shortly after he made the jump. "There was a lot of emotion and a lot of days where we should have got it. But we dug down deep and stuck at it."

Following months of planning, tryouts and camps to decide who could take part in the dangerous challenge, the record breakers squeezed into six aircraft and launched themselves into the air at 18,500 feet. Flying at such a high altitude presents a risk of altitude sickness, so the skydivers and pilots used oxygen tanks aboard the planes.

Four camera operators shooting video and stills jumped with the 138 participants to record their achievement for the FAI judges. Those images are key, said co-organizer Mike Swanson, a professional skydiver who base jumped from Willis Tower and its fellow Chicago skyscraper Trump Tower for the movie "Transformers 3."

If no one records the 150-foot-wide formation showing all the jumpers in their pre-assigned slots, "then it wasn't really done," Swanson said.

The challenge for the record began Wednesday, midway through a 10-day skydiving festival. After each attempt, the organizers reviewed the videos and decided who should stay and who should be swapped out for one of the dozens of hopefuls who didn't make the initial cut.

"It's a hard job coming in from the bench," said Erica Tadokoro, from Brisbane, Australia. "You have to be positive because it's a team effort."

Tadokoro, 43, was one of just 13 women selected in the first string. She was cut after the 14th unsuccessful attempt — one shy of the record jump.

Nelson explained that vertical flying is "basically doing a headstand" in the air. The lack of wind resistance speeds the skydivers' fall rate to an average of 170 to 180 mph. Ahead of the record attempt, he said some of those involved would need to reach much higher speeds. And that increased the risks.

If they're not paying attention when diving into the formation at upwards of 220 mph, "it's going to be like someone running a red light and you taking them out," Nelson said.

Each skydiver knew exactly when to exit the aircraft, whom to follow and where in the formation they should be. At 7,000 feet, the skydivers began to peel away on a last-in, first-out basis, and each wave deployed their parachutes at altitudes specified according to their positions in the formation.

"We don't want everyone to open their parachutes at the same altitude because then everybody lands at the same time. We stack the sky vertically" to avoid collisions, Nelson said.

The United States Parachute Association says that of an estimated 3 million skydives made across the U.S. in 2011, 21 were fatal. And most skydiving accidents happen under canopy.

Skydivers traveled from all over the world to take part in the record attempt, including from France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Australia and the U.K. And one, 40-year-old Ahmed Sferi from Reunion, said he traveled for two days from his tiny Indian Ocean island home to reach Chicago so he could take part.

Partly cloudy and hot again today, with isolated thunderstorms possible this afternoon.

Saturday will be nearly the same as yesterday ... near 90 degrees and humid under partly cloudy skies. An isolated shower/thunderstorm is possible later in the afternoon, but most of the day will be dry. This will cap off our mini-heat wave to start off August, today being the third day in a row of 90-degree heat.

Sunday is a bit of a different story. A more substantial cold front will be moving through the Great Lakes region and into New England. This will trigger a good chance of showers and thunderstorms ... some of which may be severe in the evening and overnight. Some leftover showers stick around for Monday morning, and then we're looking pretty nice for much of the workweek.

Today: Hazy sunshine, humid, isolated afternoon showers/thunderstorms, high 90.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, mild and muggy, areas of fog, low 68.

Sunday: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, heaviest in the evening, severe storms possible, high 86.

Monday: Rain ends early, mostly sunny afternoon, high 85.

Space donated by Evan Plotkin helps the visual arts make a comeback along Main Street.

Staff photo by MARK M. MURRAYArtwork by students from Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, has turned the ninth floor of One Financial Plaza in downtown Springfield into an art gallery. The space has been donated by Evan Plotkin, co-owner of the building.

Evan Plotkin has always had a passion for art. Knowing this, it comes as no surprise that the president of Springfield-based NAI Plotkin, a full-service brokerage and management company in the region, is using his resources to better the city through art.

Plotkin’s latest endeavor involves the ninth floor of One Financial Plaza, 1350 Main St., in downtown Springfield.

In late April, Plotkin was approached by John Simpson, an art professor at the Commonwealth Honors College of the University of Masschusetts at Amherst. Simpson was losing his studio space where he stored his artwork and taught due to a problem with the fire suppression system that caused the building to be condemned.

Simpson needed a place to store his paintings on short notice, so Plotkin, co-owner of One Financial Plaza, offered him the empty ninth floor.

“Well as often happens to me, there are things that seem to be problems that turn into opportunities and it’s somewhat serendipitous that this whole situation with the studio came about,” Plotkin said.

Evan Plotkin, right co-owner of One Financial Plaza in downtown Springfield who donated gallery and studio space on the building's ninth floor to the Commonwealth Honors College program, stands in the first floor lobby of the building with his nephew Nathaniel Plotkin, left.

Staff photo by MARK M. MURRAYVisitors to the ninth floor of One Financial Plaza are welcome into a museum-like space filled with art by students from Commonwealth Honors College at UMass-Amherst

Simpson teaches a class of roughly 15 students from Commonwealth College, a smaller college within UMass for top high school students. No prior experience studying art is required to enroll in Simpson’s class; students simply need to obtain “instructor permission.”

For the past few years, Simpson has based the class’s final project on the Springfield Symphony’s final show.

This year, the symphony performed Gustav Holst’s “The Planets Suite.” The students’ works inspired by the 1918 composition – in which Holst pays tribute to seven of the planets in Earth’s solar system and the mythological figures for which they are named – are on display in the lobby of One Financial Plaza, where they will remain until they are replaced by next year’s pieces.

According to Simpson, next year’s theme will be “Fate, Life, and Death,” in association with Springfield Symphony’s final performance of the season, scheduled for May 4, 2013, of Mozart’s Requiem in D minor and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

“It’s always fun. It’s never tiring to hear my students say ‘This is the best class,’” Simpson said of class feedback.

Republican photo by MARK M. MURRAY UMass art professor John Simpson works in his donated studio space at One Financial Plaza.

Plotkin and Simpson hope that the studio will help further partnership efforts between Springfield and the university, where various departments have been involved in programs for city youth.

The university also has a joint research project with Baystate Medical Center through the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute, located on North Main Street.

“Art has always been the best thing I’ve experienced,” said Plotkin of what seems to be a family passion.

Plotkin sculpts in his spare time, and enjoys singing with his wife, Martha, and three children, Tess, Julian and Sam, often with the Dan Kane Singers.

Sam Plotkin, who attends college in Nashville, Tenn., is already developing a reputation has a singer-songwriter.

Evan Plotkin’s nephew, Nathaniel, is a visual artist and some of his work is scheduled to go displayed at Elms College in Chicopee on Sept. 6.

Evan Plotkin is also involved in a public art collaboration with Chesterfield artist James Kitchen, the Springfield Business Improvement District and WGBY-57, Public Television for Western New England.

The initiative seeks to turn Springfield into a sidewalk gallery space with more art installations and walking tours.

Approximately 18 of Kitchen’s metal sculptures have been installed throughout downtown. Kitchen also has 52 pieces on display inside the former federal office building at 1550 Main St., One Financial Plaza, Tower Square Park and the MassMutual Center.

There are also plans to install a 35-foot bird sculpted by Kitchen out of scrap metal at One Financial Plaza.

Plotkin says the bird, a phoenix, symbolizes the city of Springfield “rising from the ashes.”

“We’re creating a new conversation – creating another narrative about Springfield. That’s the narrative we need to focus on and keep having . . . one where we are a cultural center of the region.”

Two decades ago, downtown had more galleries and art installations. Large-scale painted sneakers from the 2010 “Art and Soles” can be seen stepping from various city locations, and area artist Bob Markey’s glass mosaics of dancers enshrined on the inner wall of the railroad bridge on Dwight Street.

Besides the Springfield Museums at the Quadrangle, other similar venues in the city today include the Pan African Historical Museum USA and Valley Photo Center, both in Tower Square, and the Dane Gallery at Indian Orchard Mills.

Several of the city’s educational institutions also have galleries.

Currently, the UMass studio/gallery is open to the public by appointment. To make an appointment, contact Evan Plotkin at evan@splotkin.com.

To learn more about the work of Kitchen, visit his website at www.jameskitchen.com/

One possible option is to sell the building.

This is an udated photo of the original Florence Grammar School.

NORTHAMPTON – A committee appointed by the mayor is looking at new uses for the former Florence Grammar School as the city reassess its ownership of the building.

Built in 1929, the school closed at the end of the 1991-1992 school year and now houses 18 tenants, a half dozen of them non-profit organizations. Valley Radio, a locally-run FM station, is among the current tenants.

The School Department, which had retained ownership of the building, also used some of the space for the Florence Learning Center, an alternative program for students who have trouble learning in traditional classroom settings. That program moved into the high school two years ago, however, and the School Committee voted to cede ownership of the building to the city.

Narkewicz has appointed a four-member ad-hoc committee to assess the former school and make recommendations about its use in conjunction with the Finance Committee. On Wednesday, the two groups toured the building. Finance Committee members David Murphy and Eugene Tacy and ad hoc committee member Rich Cooper are all graduates of Florence Grammar School.

“It was a blast from the past,” said Tacy, noting that the interior has changed little since his days as a student.

Michael Diemand, the Director of Maintenance for the Northampton Public Schools, pointed out a number of issues with the building, including the ancient, asbestos-caked boilers and drainage problems. Narkewicz said the city more or less breaks even now, balancing rental income and maintenance. If a major repair issue such as the need for a new heating system arises, however, the building could become a financial albatross.

One possible option is to sell the building. Tacy, who has criticized the city in the past for failing to get market value on property such as the James House, said he does not see any municipal use for the school.

“I don’t see a need for the city to maintain ownership,” he said.

However, the committee will continue to review its options before making a recommendation.

“At the end of the day,” said Narkeciz, “my hope is that this committee will make some sort of recommendation.”

Mayor Gregory Neffinger said interim Police Chief Ronald Campurciani has asked the Police Department’s captains to work out a system for the patrols with the unions for local police.

File photo by Sandra E. Constantine / The RepublicanWest Springfield Mayor Gregory Neffinger, right, surveys the Bear Hole Reservoir with the city's director of water, Jeffery R. Auer, earlier this month.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – A grievance filed against the city over the use of reserve police officers to patrol Bear Hole Reservoir is being resolved by the Police Department and the two unions for its officers, according to the mayor.

Earlier this week, Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger said interim Police Chief Ronald P. Campurciani has asked the Police Department’s captains to work out a system for the patrols with the unions for local police.

About two weeks ago locals 365 and 365S of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represent patrolmen and superior officers, respectively, filed a grievance against the city. They grieved the city having reserve police officers patrol at the reservoir rather than pay full-time officers to do the work on overtime, something they argued violated their contracts.

Neffinger said the department’s captains are hammering out a plan that would make patrolling the reservoir part of officers’ regular work schedules. However, reserve police will continue to patrol the reservoir weekends, which they do for no pay as part of being trained, according to the mayor.

Robert F. Dickson, national representative for the two local police unions, said he was notified by the city Monday of those developments.

The union representative said he is satisfied with how the matter is being resolved and that if there is backsliding the union will file another grievance.

Neffinger had closed the reservoir to the public for two weeks partially to crack down on people illegally using all-terrain vehicles there, creating ruts in trails and causing erosion into Paucatuck Brook. The brook feeds into the reservoir, which is a backup source of city drinking water.

The closure was also to allow for clean up of illegally dumped materials at the resource.