The developer is interested in turning the school into housing for veterans, the elderly or both.

File photo | The RepublicanThis is an undated photo of Chapin School, which has been closed since 2004.

CHICOPEE – A developer has expressed interest in purchasing the former Chapin School, which has been vacant for eight years, and converting it into housing.

The city started requesting proposals from developers interested in purchasing and redeveloping the 34,490 square-foot school in July. Responses are due Aug. 30.

The 1898 school, located between Meadow and Chicopee streets, has been vacant since 2004. The water pipes have been drained and many windows have been boarded up to prevent vandalism.

“We are optimistic. We have interest from someone who wants to create over 55 housing or veterans housing or a combination,” Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said.

The city has put that building out to bid several times but has attracted little interest from developers. There was one proposal submitted in 2008 from a developer who wanted to convert Chapin School into for elderly housing but the sale fell through when the developer failed to secure financing.

The issue came up during the School Committee meeting when member Donald J. Lamothe, who represents the ward where the school is located, said there have been problems at the school.

“Windows are starting to be broken and the grass is getting yeah high,” he said.

Bissonnette agreed that having the school left vacant is not good. The city has tried to market that building and several others including the former library on Market Square and the closed Belcher School on 10 Southwick St. but has had little success.

Plans to bring a Franklin Delano Roosevelt museum to the library fell through in 2007 when founder Joseph J. Plaud pulled out due to financial issues.

Bissonnette now hopes to renovate the building, which has been empty since 2004, connect it to the adjacent city hall and use it for school offices.

It is never easy to market an old building and professionals tend to do the job better than municipalities, said Robert Greeley, owner of RJ Greeley Co., of Springfield, which specializes in marketing commercial and industrial property.

One of the biggest problems is a municipality will decide they want a property turned into a specific use, but there is no demand for that use, he said.

Many older buildings are obsolete for manufacturing and other businesses and renovating them to meet industry standards and different fire, building and handicap accessibility codes can be more expensive than building new, Greeley said.

“All those factors come into plan and demand is slow right now for a lot of things,” Greeley said.

“The one success we have had is marketing the Little Red Schoolhouse,” Bissonnette said.

After searching for a buyer for years, the city sold the 1846 schoolhouse to two developers for $1,000 in 2007. The historic brick schoolhouse was renovated and has since been sold as a single-family house.

Leaders of the Federal Railroad Administration launched an effort to give the public a say over a planned environmental report for improving the 457-mile line between Washington and Boston.

BOSTON – The train line from Washington to Boston, the nation’s busiest rail corridor, is hampered by major congestion and capacity limits and will need significant upgrades in the coming years that could affect a couple of connecting lines in Western Massachusetts, federal officials said.

Leaders of the Federal Railroad Administration launched an effort in Boston on Monday to give the public a say over a planned environmental report for improving the 457-mile line. The Environmental Impact Statement will focus on the Washington to Boston line but it would also include a look at two connecting corridors near Springfield including the re-routing of the Vermonter service and high-speed rail between New Haven and Springfield.

“This is your chance to help shape the process and its outcome,” Rebecca Reyes-Alicea , project manager for the Federal Railroad Administration, told a group that attended a meeting in Boston, the first in a series of nine public meetings on the effort, called the “Northeast Corridor Future” rail investment plan.

Reyes-Alicea said two “great projects” are planned in Western Massachusetts.

Under a $73 million federal stimulus grant, the Vermonter, an Amtrak service that offers a single daily round trip between Washington and St. Albans, Vt., is being realigned back to its original route in Western Massachusetts.

The line is proposed to be re-routed to the Connecticut River line between Springfield and East Northfield. The new alignment would speed the trip to Vermont and include stops at a former Amtrak station off Railroad Avenue in Northampton, a new $15.1 million inter modal transit center in Greenfield and possibly a future station in Holyoke.

The new alignment, called the “Knowledge Corridor-Restore Vermonter Project,” would reduce overall travel time by 25 minutes. It would also provide faster and more cost effective freight transportation, improve on-time performance and increase ridership by 24 percent, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Am existing stop in Amherst would no longer be offered on the line. Riders from Amherst would need to travel to Northampton.

Timothy Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, said work has begun on restoring the Vermonter and should be completed in 18 to 24 months.

Also, federal and state leaders are planning improvements that would provide high-speed passenger rail service between key cities on the existing New Haven, Hartford and Springfield line.

The railroad administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation,, has awarded three grants to Connecticut, totaling $190.9 million, toward the cost of designing and constructing the project.

The corridor includes 62 miles of existing rail line, including six miles in Massachusetts, owned and operated by Amtrak.

Additional federal funding would be needed to complete the remaining improvements between Windsor and Springfield, according to a preliminary environmental report released earlier this year by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Currently, passenger service consists of no more than the six to eight daily round-trip passenger trains between New Haven and Springfield, the report said.

The high-speed rail project calls for up to 25 daily round-trip trains, or up to 50 one-way trips per day, by 2030. Officials are planning work that seeks to increase the capacity of the line to accommodate additional trains, including a hike from a maximum of 80 miles per hour train speed to 110 miles per hour, service to new regional train stations, and reduced scheduled travel times, the report said.

Work on the line is scheduled to take place between 2013 and 2015 and initial service would begin in 2016.

In a complement to this project, the renovation of Springfield's Union Station Transportation Center will begin this fall and is slated for completion in 2014.

Brennan said Connecticut and Massachusetts are also working on commuter rail service that would include more stops and more frequent stops along the Hartford to Springfield line.

“We have been championing these projects for a long, long time,” Brennan said.

People can comment on line at www.necfuture.com or e-mails can be sent to info@necfuture.com. People can also write to Rebecca Reyes-Alicea, Federal Railroad Administration, Mail Stop 20, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C. 20590.

Selectmen will discuss the progress of road and culvert repairs at their meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at 29 Thompson St. Watch video

This is an updated version of a story posted at 8:52 this morning.

The Republican | Don TreegerWorkers from Palmer Paving repair flood damage to Beebe Road in Monson after weekend storms pounded the area.

MONSON - Work continued Monday to repair close to a dozen roads that were damaged or washed out by Sunday's torrential rains here.

"The state of emergency is still on," Highway Surveyor John Morrell said.

Morrell said all roads are passable. Some may have one lane open, however.

Affected roads are Beebe, Fenton, Chestnut, T-Peck, Wood Hill, Reimers, Aldrich and High, as well as Harrison Avenue and Homer Drive.

Beebe and T-Peck roads, along with Chestnut Street, had the worst damage - pavement was washed away and sink holes developed.

Beebe Road lost 300 feet of roadway. The rain carved out a hole 6 to 8 feet deep in the road. A nearby brook overflowed from the rain, and water flowing from Crest Road contributed to the washouts, Morrell said.

He said the culverts could not handle so much water at once. Rains overflowed the brook and washed out a different section of Beebe Road back in 1989, he said.
T-Peck Road and Chestnut Street also lost large sections of pavement.

“They did a remarkable job getting those roads open,” Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers said.

Selectmen will discuss the progress of road and culvert repairs at their meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at 29 Thompson St.

Morrell said he became concerned about the storm around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.

"I said, 'This can't continue on much longer,'" Morrell recalled. "It was an intense storm and it didn't let up. We got 5.8 inches of rain in three hours."

Pounding rain, combined with Monson's hilly terrain and large number of streams, contributed to the road problems.

Monson is no stranger to wild weather. Last year, it was pummeled by a tornado in June and snowstorm in October. In 2005, flooding also washed out roads.

Crews will continue to work on the roads on Tuesday. He said repaving should be completed by the end of the week.

Morrell is estimating that the road repairs will cost up to $150,000, but that is an early estimate and he will have a better number for Tuesday's meeting.

Though the tornado area was largely spared, some homeowners experienced flooded basements. Karen King, founder of the street angels volunteer team, said water flowed straight down the tornado path from Ely Road, and left one Washington Street resident with 2 feet of mud in his basement.

The rainstorm came just two days after Monson had another tornado scare.

"We got lucky there," Morrell said.

State Rep. Brian M. Ashe, D-Longmeadow, visited Monson on Monday to see the rainstorm damage firsthand. Ashe said he was amazed that the roads are passable, and credited Morrell's crews for getting them back in use so quickly. All roads were open by Sunday night.

Ashe said he was glad that no one was hurt, and no homes or businesses were damaged. Ashe said he plans to see if he can find any extra funding for Monson to help deal with the unexpected $150,000 bill from the storm.

"Monson is really a resilient community. That being said, it doesn't have an endless pot of money," Ashe said. "I will do everything possible to get them money as quickly as possible."

"It's great to see how quickly they got things up and running. Again, they made the best out of a horrible situation," Ashe said.

Morrell said residents should report road damage and washouts to the Highway Department at (413) 267-4135. “If there is no cone or barrel by that location we probably don’t know about it,” he said. “Little things keep popping up but even they can be really dangerous hazards.”

Morrell said Beebe Road will probably be closed for several hours on Wednesday while workers apply a base course of asphalt.

Other damages include several headwalls that collapsed near culverts.

“We have to restore those headwalls before we get any more water,” Morrell said.

Staff writer George Graham contributed to this report.

Renovations at 1600 Main Street would cost $250,000.

The Republican | Mark M. MurrayThe building at 1600 Main St., Springfield, that housed the former Asylumn nightclub, would be a German beer garden if a plan proposed by the New England Farm Workers Council passes muster.

SPRINGFIELD – The former Asylum nightclub at 1600 Main St. could get a new life as a German beer garden run by The Fort and The Student Prince Restaurant if the city accepts a redevelopment proposal from the New England Farm Workers Council.

The New England Farm Workers Council’s $450,000 bid was the only one submitted for the project. The bids were opened Monday afternoon in City Hall.

Brian M. Connors, deputy director of economic development for Springfield, said the city is under no obligation to accept the bid. There will be a review process and the final decision will rest with the City Council. Connors expects a decision sometime in September.

The building was constructed in the 1930s as the Enterprise department store and later served as another dime store for a time before becoming the state unemployment office in the 1960s and then the Asylum nightclub, Connors said.

The Asylum closed in 2004 after being cited as a public safety and fire hazard. In 2009, the city bought the property for $630,00.

In 2011, the city spent $1.3 million in state and local funds to demolish the rear two-thirds of the building and gut the remaining 13,573 square feet, remove asbestos and install a sprinkler system in the unfinished shell.

Heriberto “Herbie” Flores, president of the New England Farm Workers Council said the 1600 Main Street project is part of the council’s economic development mission and a natural extension of its other real-estate holdings in the neighborhood.

“You need to create an environment where people of all races and cultures can feel comfortable,” Flores said.

Those properties include the building housing The Fort, located next door to 1600 Main which the Farm Workers Council bought in October 2010 for $2 million. The New England Farm Workers Council also bought the Paramount building, known as the Massasoit Block in March 2011 for $1.7 million.

The Council also recently took over the Stone Wall Tavern along the railroad tracks.

Flores said the Farm Workers Council is stepping because no one else is willing to take on these projects.

Renovations at 1600 Main Street would cost $250,000. Flores said there will be space in the building for other businesses beside the beer garden.

Rudi R. Scherff, managing partner of The Fort and The Student Prince Restaurant, said The Bier Garten at 1600 Main Street would be an indoor-outdoor facility selling light fare like sausages, hamburgers and the like as well as beer. He also envisions light entertainment, perhaps an accordion player.

“On a day like this what would be nicer than to sit outside and have a beer with some nice wurst and an optional hunk of sauerkraut ,” Scherff said Monday afternoon. “As you go through downtown right now there are not a lot of venues that cater to people much over the age of 25. There is us, there is Theodore’s.”

Quiet and comfortable overnight, showers return late Tuesday night.

Skies remain partly cloudy this evening as high pressure maintains control of the region. Dewpoints have have been noticeably lower today, and are expected to stay down overnight...leading to a quiet and comfortable night with low temperatures settling into the upper-50s.

Tuesday will start off with sunshine, but the clouds will be quickly moving in for the afternoon. A system delivering showers through the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley right now will be moving into western Massachusetts tomorrow night. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible as early as dinner-time, but the best chance of rain will be holding off for midnight and later. This system will linger around New England on Wednesday, giving us periods of showers and thunderstorms for that afternoon.

The weather pattern we've got for Monday and Tuesday is expected to repeat for Thursday and Friday...partly cloudy skies for a majority of both days, but clouds increase late Friday afternoon and lead to another round of rain Friday night into Saturday.

Tonight: Mainly clear, comfortable, low 58.

Tuesday: Sunny start, thunderstorms arriving by the evening, high 88.

Wednesday: Periods of showers and thunderstorms, humid, high 82.

Thursday: Partly cloudy, high 82.

Longmeadow Starbucks has asked for a variance to allow dogs in its outdoor seating area.

Associated PressIn this July 20, 2009 file photo, a Starbucks customer drinks a beverage outside Starbucks, in Beverly, Mass. Starbucks Corp. is expected to release a quarterly earnings report at the close of the market Wednesday, April 21, 2010.

LONGMEADOW – The Board of Health was unwilling to take a vote on whether to allow dogs in the outdoor eating area of Starbucks saying there was a member missing.

Although the board had a quorum during its Monday night meeting including Chairman Robert Rappaport, members Richard Steingart, Maripat Toye and Robert Baevsky Toye expressed her desire to have all of the members present before issuing a final decision. Member Barry Izenstein was absent.

The issue of dogs at Starbucks has been on-going for several months since a sign was posted saying dogs would no longer be allowed because of a town ordinance which allows only service animals at restaurants.

Board of Health Director Beverly Hirschhorn said the state ordinance has always been in place but not often enforced.

More than 15 residents attended the meeting and expressed anger and disappointment that the board could not come to a decision.

Former selectman Gerald Nolet who has served on many town boards and committees and supports the variance said he did not see why the board could not come to a decision with out one board member.

Toye said in the past the board has been criticized for voting without all its members, including the initial vote regarding the ordinance in question.

“We have been criticized for voting without having the full board present and we don’t want to make that mistake again,” she said.

Rappaport said the board does not want to continue delaying the issue and will make a decision soon.

During the meeting a representative of Starbucks expressed concerns about the negative impact the ordinance has had on its sales.

“The enforcement of the food code has resulted in a loss of customers and a loss of sales,” said Michael Clark, an employee and spokesperson for the establishment located on Bliss Road in the Longmeadow Shops. “There has been a loss of an estimated 20-30 customers per day during peak summer hours which amounts to $1000 week or $12,000 this summer.”

The company is requesting a variance that would allow dogs on leashes and under the control of their owners to sit outside in the exterior eating areas of the business. Clark said the dogs would not be allowed on the tables or chairs.

Clark said the ordinance has forced many Starbucks customers to go to East Longmeadow or Springfield locations where dogs are allowed.

Susan Altman, of Longmeadow, who initially started a petition to allow dogs at the establishment said she has had support from hundreds of residents with more than 160 signing her petition.

“The ordinance has not been enforced for 15 years and the citizens of Longmeadow and their dogs have been able to meet at the Starbucks patio and socialize,” she said.

She hopes the board will grant the variance.

“I’ve waited a long time for this, and we want a decision,” she said.

The board said it should come to a decision by September. 

The mother of eight died of a gunshot wound in 2003 while trying to break up a fight.

Myriam Miranda

File photo | The RepublicanMyriam Miranda,45, of Holyoke, was shot and killed Feb. 19, 2003 after breaking up fight between her son and three men police identified as gang members at her home at 222 Dwight St.

HOLYOKE – An annual anti-violence tournament named in honor of a mother killed trying to break up a fight in 2003 will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Kelly School on West Street.

The “Myriam Miranda Stop the Violence Annual Tournament” is free and includes basketball, volleyball and dominoes, said a press release from the city Parks and Recreation Department.

Miranda, 45, a certified nursing assistant and mother of eight, died from a gunshot to the stomach after breaking up a fight between her son and three teen-agers Feb. 19, 2003, police have said.

In 2002, Miranda participated in the Latino Community Health Promotion Workers Program of the Holyoke Health Center. She learned about health plans and services available to low-income families and the latest techniques used to fight cancer.

She told a reporter May 2002 story that her participation in the program would let her explain procedures and help her mother and five daughters get annual exams and mammograms.

“I’ve learned a lot, so I can teach them,” Miranda said.

Activities will including waterslides, potato sack races, other games and music, along with hot dogs, chips and drinks, the press release said.

The Committee in Memory of Myriam Miranda is seeking financial and other help to provide the event, the press release said.

“We are seeking both monetary and in-kind donations, and any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated,” the press release said.

“We have a number of expenses, including purchasing T-shirts for tournament participants, renting sports equipment and food preparation machines, in addition to providing the materials necessary to support our musical guests,” the press release said.

Checks can be made payable to the Holyoke Parks and Recreation Department with “Myriam Miranda” in the memo line.

For information call (413) 322-5620.

Town Councilors also took up Mohegan Sun on its offer to visit the Connecticut casino.

Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville. Conn. Players enjoy the slot machines at the Casino of the Wind.

PALMER - Resident Lawrence M. Jasak wants Mohegan Sun to show the town that it has the money - the $400,000 application fee to be exact - to open a resort casino off Route 32.

"If they are that committed, let's see the $400,000 check," Jasak told the Town Council at its meeting Monday night.

Jasak, who is pro-casino and has approached the council before about his concerns regarding the casino project, said he is curious how the process is going.

"We're hoping that Mohegan Sun is in line to make that next step for the town of Palmer and be the first applicant for Western Massachusetts," Jasak said.

"We really believe in this project and believe in this for the town of Palmer. We hope that Mohegan Sun believes as hard as we do," Jasak added.

Town Council President Philip J. Hebert said "we can't make them spend their money."

Town Manager Charles T. Blanchard has been negotiating with the Connecticut-based casino operator. Blanchard said he was not alarmed that Mohegan has not yet provided the $400,000 application fee to the state Gaming Commission.

The first day companies could submit the fee was Aug. 9,and so far, only Suffolk Downs, which has plans for a gambling resort at a track in East Boston and Revere, and Plainridge Racecourse, a harness track in Plainville, which is applying for the single slot parlor license, have made the non-refundable deposits.

Blanchard said Mohegan officials, at the public meeting held in May, made it clear that they would pursue the lone casino license for Western Massachusetts.

"Everything they're doing is consistent with that," Blanchard said.

"We have a team of consultants that they've approved . . . they've made it clear time and time again that they're committed to Palmer," Blanchard said. "From my experience since I've been here Mohegan has followed through on everything they've said."

Blanchard said Palmer is the only community, other than Taunton, where the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe wants to build a casino, that is formally engaged in the host community agreement process.

At-large Councilor Paul E. Burns said he shares Jasak's frustration, and said he also would feel better if Mohegan "plunked down" the $400,000 fee.

Contacted Monday night, Mohegan Sun released the following statement regarding the application fee:

“Our intent is to submit a complete and highly competitive application to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission in accordance with the commission's regulations, guidelines and deadline. As submission of the initial application fee at this early stage is voluntary, our intent is to submit that fee when our license application is
completed.”

Burns said he thinks Palmer is better off than Springfield, where one proposal has emerged - Ameristar wants to build a casino at a site off Page Boulevard - and at least three others have been discussed for the downtown area.

"At least we know who the developer is," Burns said.

Burns noted that Mohegan officials said they would be willing to meet again with the council and public about the project.

"I can't see dragging someone in for answers that we're not going to get," Hebert said.

At-large Councilor Mary A. Salzmann said she thought it was too early for another meeting with Mohegan, and suggested November.

In other casino news, the council approved spending funds provided by Mohegan to pay costs associated with the host community agreement. Mohegan has given the town $50,000 toward these costs. The agreement details the responsibilities of the gaming operator, and conditions for building in a community.

Councilors also agreed to take up Mohegan Sun's offer to visit the Connecticut casino, to learn more about the operations there.

A man grabbed the woman, they struggled and the man ran off after another man yelled across the river, police said.

File photo

HOLYOKE – Police were investigating a report of an assault and battery on a woman at the Dinosaur Footprints exhibit on Route 5 Monday.

A woman told police she was at the dinosaur tracks exhibit near the Connecticut River when a man grabbed her and she began struggling. A man across the river who saw the struggle yelled and the man ran off. Police have a partial license plate for the car the man was driving, Lt. Matthew F. Moriarty said.

The report came in about 7 p.m.

The Dinosaur Footprints exhibit between Route 5 and the Connecticut River in the northern part of the city consists of 130 tracks revealed in slabs of sandstone. The exhibit is run by the Trustees of Reservations’ Pioneer Valley.

The family of Springfield's latest homicide victim needs to raise $7,000 for a funeral. As of Monday afternoon, they had only raised about $2,200.

The Republican | Patrick JohnsonMerari Gonzales, left, is comforted by a friend, Eileen Mercado, outside the Bay Street apartment building of ber brother, Antonio Gonzales, who was shot to death nearby early Saturday. Merari Gonzales is working a stand selling bottles of water and food to raise money for her brother's funeral.

This is an update of a story that was posted at 2:48 p.m. Monday

SPRINGFIELD - Just down Bay Street from where he was shot to death early Saturday members of Antonio “Tony” Gonzales spent Monday trying to raise the $7,000 needed for a proper funeral.

“A penny, a quarter, a nickel, anything!” Maddlyn Miranda shouted as vehicles whizzed by the scene outside 305 Bay St. She carried a sign that stated in part, “RIP Tony - Please help us in this time of need.”

A few feet away from the temporary street shrine of flowers and candles set up for Gonzales, family members set up a table from which they were selling bottles of water and food.

Gonzales’s sister, Merari Gonzales said that since Saturday morning, they have managed to cobble together just over $2,200 in donations, an impressive amount but well short of the $7,000 needed. As she spoke, a woman in a mini-van stopped in front and handed Merari Gonzales a few dollars that she placed in a large bucket by her feet.

The family has not set up a memorial bank account, a common practice, for accepting donations, she said. Instead, people who wish to donate can send money in her brother’s name directly to Henderson’s Funeral Home, 52 Hancock St., Springfield.

Gonzales, 39, was shot to death at about 2 a.m. as he attempted to intervene in a disturbance at the scene of a house party across the street.

Merari Gonzales said her brother heard gunshots and then went to see what was going on. He was hit twice, once in the shoulder and once in the chest.

The 16-year-old boy accused of shooting him, Joshua Pena, was arraigned as an adult in Springfield District Court on a charge of murder. He denied the charges and was ordered held without the right to bail.

Miranda and others who gathered at the scene where Gonzales lost his life, spoke highly of the man and described him as a generous soul who served as the neighborhood peacekeeper.

Submitted photoIN this undated photo provided by his family, Antonio Gonzales, left, embraces his wife, Joanna Hernandez.

Merari Gonzales the family is in shock over his death.

“We miss him so much,” she said.

“He was a good father, a good son, a good godfather, a good friend,” she said. “He was good in everything.”

He was married for two years and was raising his wife’s children as his own, she said.

The two children, ages 5 and 3, have not yet been told that he is dead, she said.

She said her brother was very friendly and generous with everyone. He also had a knack for making people laugh, no matter how sad or angry they were feeling.

“If you were angry, he would put a smile on your face because he had a way to make you smile,” she said.

“Everyone on the block loved him,” she said. “All the kids called him ‘Tio,’ which is Spanish for uncle.”

The last time she saw him was Saturday afternoon when he came to her apartment.

One of her children was being cranky, and Antonio set out to make him feel better, she said.

“He used to call my son Pikachu. He was kissing him and hugging him,” Merari Gonzales said. “He said ‘I’m going to bring you a lollipop, Pikachu,’ but he’s never coming back with the lollipop because he’s gone.”

Tristan Rivera, who said he had known Gonzales for several years said “He always looked out for everybody. I thought of him as an older brother. He was always talking to us, leading us to the right path.”

In a similar, but unrelated, incident that occurred about 90 minutes before Gonzales was shot, a 26-year-old city man told police that he had been shot in the leg at a youth party near
Eastern Avenue and Colton Street when he too attempted to intervene in an argument.

George Graham / The Republican8-13-12 - Springfield - Maddlyn Miranda stands across the street from 305 Bay St., where 38-year-old Antonio "Tony" Gonzales was fatally shot early Saturday morning, soliciting donations from motorists for his burial.

That suspect, a black male in a Yankee cap, pulled out gun and started shooting, Sgt. John
M. Delaney said.

That suspect, who had been in a heated argument with an unknown female, remains at large, he said.

Rivera said the suspects in such shootings seem to be getting younger all the time. “I think that if they have gun in their hands they think they are Superman,” he said.

“It’s hard to believe he went out like this,” said Gabriel Santiago, who said he grew up with Gonzales at Putnam Circle.

“Kids are young today,” said neighborhood resident Millie Acevedo. “They don’t want to think with their brains, they think with their guns.”

Acevedo knows firsthand the pain of losing a loved one to gun violence.

Her late son. Johnny F. Acevedo, 17, of Springfield, was fatally shot in the chest near Danny’s Place, a bar in Holyoke in 1998.

“I know the pain, it hurts, it hurts,” Acevedo said, adding that she knew Gonzales and the 16-year-old who allegedly took his life.

Acevedo and others at the scene said the two did not know each other, that the shooting was a random.

Republican reporter George Graham contributed to this report.

Brown gave a speech castigating Warren for proposing to raise taxes and calling her a "jobs destroyer." Warren responded that Brown supports tax breaks for the wealthy, while opposes tax cuts for the middle class.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 1:52 this afternoon.

Associated Press | Steven SenneU.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., addresses an audience during a meeting of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, in Randolph Tuesday. The Massachusetts Republican said he's trying to keep taxes low to help businesses grow, while portraying Warren as a "jobs destroyer" who favors a heavier tax burden.

More politics news

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Both Republican Sen. Scott Brown and U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, offered their opinions on Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan to be his running mate against President Barack Obama in the upcoming presidential election.

• Boston voters and visitors are split on Paul Ryan as a VP choice
• U.S. Sen. Scott Brown to deliver address on tax policy
• Boston to Washington rail corridor -- including Springfield area -- focus of federal review

Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren sparred over tax policy on Tuesday, after Brown gave a speech castigating Warren for proposing to raise taxes.

Brown spoke to around 500 people at a South Shore Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Lombardo’s, a function facility in Randolph.

The core of Brown’s speech was his attacks on Warren. “Professor Warren's eagerness to increase taxes is what makes her a jobs destroyer. My message to you is hold on to your pocketbooks and wallets and get ready,” Brown said.

Warren responded by tying Brown to the Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates. “Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Scott Brown have all made clear what side they stand on,” Warren said, speaking to reporters at a Quincy construction site. “They have supported tax breaks, tax subsidies, special loopholes for the wealthiest individuals and the biggest corporations. And they have opposed tax cuts for middle class families.” Ryan’s controversial budget is now a central theme in the presidential race – though Brown has said he opposes some features of it.

One major point of contention between Brown and Warren is the renewal of the Bush era tax cuts. Warren wants to extend the Bush tax cuts for the lower and middle class, but not for those making over $250,000 a year. Brown has said he will not support raising taxes on anyone.

Brown argued that is a fallacy perpetuated by Warren that keeping the Bush tax cuts in place represents a tax cut and eliminating them does not represent a tax raise. “When tax rates go up, that’s a tax hike any way you slice it. And that’s exactly what Professor Warren wants,” Brown said.

Warren said it is important to lower taxes on the middle class. “But I believe that the wealthiest individuals and the biggest corporations can afford to pay their fair share,” she said. “All that we’re asking is that they pay what they paid during the Clinton years, which were pretty darn good years for the top of the economic ladder.” Warren accused Brown of “holding hostage” tax cuts for 98 percent of families and 97 percent of small businesses in order to give bigger tax cuts to the wealthy.

Brown also continued to attack Warren for comments she made that “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.” Warren had argued that factory owners rely on government for roads and public education. Brown said for Warren to “downplay individual initiative as nothing more than a byproduct of big government is to fundamentally misunderstand our free enterprise system.”

“Professor Warren’s twisted logic dictates that because businesspeople take advantage of government services, then they owe ‘a hunk’ of their success back to the government in the form of higher taxes,” Brown said. “Forget about the rather large ‘hunk’ they already pay.”

Warren made her point by speaking at the Quincy town brook relocation project – a construction project funded partly by stimulus money received under Obama. “Scott Brown says it is more important to protect billionaires, it’s more important to protect big corporations that haul money overseas than it is to make investments right here in America, investments that create a future for cities like Quincy,” Warren said.

Warren said the U.S. is falling behind China, which is “giving their businesses a long-term comparative advantage” through investment in infrastructure. (The last time Warren compared the U.S. to China, she took flak from several conservative editorial boards including The Boston Herald, which wrote, “How did China — one of the world’s most repressive regimes — get to be your role model?”)

Brown also claimed Warren would support $3.4 trillion in higher taxes over the next decade. “Her proposal for new taxes would represent the largest tax hike since World War II,” he said. Warren called that number “made up.”

According to the Brown campaign, the $3.4 million includes several policies Warren supports: the “Buffett rule,” which would increase taxes on millionaires; ending tax breaks for oil companies and hedge fund managers; Obama’s health care reform law, which uses some tax increases to pay for an expansion of access to health insurance; freezing student loan interest rates and paying for it by increasing the payroll taxes collected from certain corporations; and others.

But the calculation also includes a so-called “war tax” – which the Brown campaign calls the amount requested in the Department of Defense 2013 budget to fund overseas contingency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Warren has been more vocal than Brown about bringing troops home from Afghanistan. (Brown, who served in Afghanistan, supports Obama’s troop drawdown plan but would not publicize a withdrawal date. Warren has said it is time to bring the troops home as quickly as possible.)

Warren’s most specific tax proposals to date came when she told the Boston Globe that she would cut subsidies to oil and gas companies; cut agricultural subsidies paid to producers; pass the Buffett rule; not extend the Bush tax cuts on those making over $250,000; return the estate tax to 2009 levels; and cut waste, for example by streamlining the use of information technology.

Brown on Tuesday advocated for “broad tax reform that does away with special loopholes, simplifies the entire tax code, and lowers rates to get this economy growing again.” He did not say which loopholes he would do away with or what the lower rates would be. Previously, Brown has said he is open to eliminating tax loopholes and deductions, but only as part of comprehensive reform that lowers tax rates overall. Brown did not take questions after his speech.

Brown also warned of “Taxmageddon” – a confluence of tax policies that, without congressional action, could result in several tax increases on Jan. 1. At that time, the Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire, and increases in the capital gains tax, dividends tax and estate tax will go into effect. Brown said Congress should do whatever it takes, including potentially a special session of Congress, to avoid “Taxmageddon.”

Democratic Party Chairman John Walsh responded to Brown’s speech by saying that Brown, Ryan and Romney all “come from the same framework.” “They’re on the side of big oil, big banks and billionaires. They’re going to ask the middle class and small business owners to pay for it,” he said.

Carol Bulman, CEO of Jack Conway Realtor in Norwell, and an independent voter, said she has not decided who to vote for, but she appreciated Brown speaking to business owners and “trying to protect every dollar we earned.” “He seems to be on the side of business owners,” she said.

The vote was expected, as was the City Council president's vow after it that he will seek a court injunction to halt the program. Watch video

This 9:39 p.m. update adds numerous comments from Board of Health meeting on needle exchange story originally posted at 6:50 p.m.

HOLYOKE -- The Board of Health voted 3-0 again Tuesday to permit operation of a needle exchange program in a decision applauded as a public safety boost and admonished for widening a rift in city government.

The vote in a City Hall meeting packed with mostly supporters of the program was expected – as was City Council President Kevin A. Jourdain’s vow after it that he will seek a court injunction to halt a needle exchange program.

But Mayor Alex B. Morse, who said he supports needle exchange on the basis it can save lives, said late Tuesday a city vs. city lawsuit can’t happen because only the city solicitor can represent the city in court. The current solicitor supports Morse on needle exchange.

The health board vote means that Tapestry Health Wednesday morning will resume its needle exchange program at 15-A Main St., Timothy W. Purington, Tapestry director of prevention services, said after the meeting.

Supporters said letting people exchange used and possibly infected needles for clean ones can curb the spread of diseases and save lives. One way diseases for which there are no cures, like AIDS and hepatitis C, can spread is through sharing of infected needles.

Among those who spoke in favor of a needle exchange program were Morse, Police Chief James M. Neiswanger, Kevin Cranston, director of infectious disease for the state Department of Public Health, and T. Stephen Jones, a retired senior scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.

Others such as Jourdain and residents like Paula M. Brunault and Angela Gerhard spoke against. They said the program just puts needles into the hands of illegal-drug users, prompts more discarded needles on sidewalks and yards, and ignores a 2001 nonbinding referendum in which voters rejected the program.

Jourdain told the health board it lacked authority to permit a needle exchange program.

Jourdain and other councilors back a 1996 ruling by former city solicitor Daniel M. Glanville that said local approval on needle exchange means the mayor and City Council.

“Let me first say you have no authority to adopt a needle exchange program,” Jourdain said. "It can't be any more clear than that." But current City Solicitor Elizabeth Rodriguez-Ross said local approval of such a program under state law means the Board of Health and mayor.

The health board consists of Chairwoman Katherine M. Liptak and Patricia A. Mertes, who are registered nurses, and physician Robert S. Mausel.

Rodriguez-Ross on Aug. 3 ordered the board to meet again because its July 9 meeting violated the open meeting law by failing to note needle exchange would be discussed and voted on.

Her ruling came after Jourdain filed an open meeting law complaint about the July 9 vote.

On Tuesday, the health board voted 3-0 to rescind the July 9 vote and then heard 90 minutes of comments.

Cranston said 301 people with HIV-AIDS were living here in 2011. And 39 percent of them said they were injected-drug users. Needle exchange can help reduce that, he said.

“This is well-established science,” Cranston said.

Jourdain questioned the cost of needle exchange programs. Cranston said it ranges from up to $65,000 a year in Provincetown to $350,000 in Boston. Holyoke’s would cost about $150,000 a year, he said.

Morse said he has been accused (by Jourdain, though he didn’t mention him) of pushing needle exchange as a personal agenda. His agenda is protecting people, he said.

“It is my personal agenda to protect and make sure the people in this community are safe,” Morse said.

Neiswanger said drug use is an epidemic thriving despite billions of dollars spent against it. With an officer here getting stuck every year or so by a needle in the line of duty, he said, options like needle exchange are needed.

“I support saving lives, and that’s what this does,” Neiswanger said.

Councilor at Large James M. Leahy said that with three children, he worries about illegal drugs, but said needle exchange didn't seem like the right step.

Ward 2 Councilor Anthony Soto said, "If it saves one life, I'm all for it."

Purington, the former Ward 4 councilor, high-fived Councilor at Large Rebecca Lisi after the board's 3-0 permission for needle exchange.

"Needle exchange is safe, effective and necessary," Purington said.

Jay A. Breines, executive director of the Holyoke Health Center, said he urged adoption of a needle exchange program 15 years ago.

"If we had done it 15 years ago, lives would have been saved," Breines said.

Several speakers used a phrase Morse has been stating, that needle exchange was a matter better left to medical specialists like the Board of Health and not politics.

"It is a matter of public safety, not politics," said Mimi Wielgosz, of Hampden Street.

Brunault, of Pleasant Street, said she is a registered nurse who urged a no vote on the 2001 needle exchange question.

“I am very much against needle exchange, as I believe most Holyokers are,” Brunault said.

Gerhard, who lives and works at 62 Main St., provided photos of discarded needles she said she has found around her home.

“This is a big concern for us,” Gerhard said.

Michael Franco, of Primrose Lane, said needle exchange is the wrong step for the city.

"If this is moving the city forward, then I want to go back," Franco said.

Councilor at Large Daniel B. Bresnahan, former city health director here, asked the health board to delay consideration of needle exchange in light of the potential legal fight from the City Council.

"Would it behoove you to table the matter for two months?" Bresnahan said.

Liptak replied, "Excuse me, Dan, I think you're off topic."

A legal fight appears to be looming. Morse said in an email the city charter prohibits the City Council from obtaining legal counsel outside of the city Law Department, regardless of whether a lawyer would take such a case for no fee.

"The City Council president cannot retain separate legal counsel on behalf of the City Council, and to do so would be in violation of the city charter and ordinances," Morse wrote in a letter dated Monday to the City Council.

Jourdain said Morse was wrong and a court injunction would be sought to stop needle exchange.

"Definitely. I'm not locking myself into a timeline. In due time," Jourdain said.

The Red Sox don't like their manager- does it matter, should it matter, and is there a real solution?

The heat on Bobby Valentine continues to mount.

Another day, another column detailing discord and dissatisfaction within the Boston Red Sox clubhouse.

People love this stuff.

Jeff Passann of Yahoo! Sports provided details Tuesday of a tumultuous meeting held between Red Sox players and upper management in New York City during the team's trip to the Big Apple at the end of July.

We do know a meeting took place. That much is confirmed by Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington in the article. Naturally, Cherington's quotes are very measured.

The overall tone of the column? Not so much.

Everyone loves a crisis. We can't get enough "breaking news" in this nation. People also seem to love separating people into two black and white categories: good guys and bad guys. That's nice and tidy, but rarely accurate.

Are the players overpaid whiners? Is the manager a buffoon? No, not really.

Passan, a true baseball insider, is no hack. Yet even if everything said within his column is 100 percent true -- if veteran players Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez called for the meeting, were most vocal in it, and told ownership they flatly didn't want to play for Valentine anymore -- the real problem rests elsewhere.

While Red Sox Nation erupts over the content or alleged content of this meeting, the real issue is the same one that will always be most important with baseball teams, and all teams really:

Wins.

The Red Sox aren't getting enough of them.

If the Red Sox won more games last fall, Valentine would probably still be working for ESPN. If they were winning games now, some of these issues might not be so newsworthy at all.

Is Valentine the real problem with the Red Sox?

If Pedroia, Gonzalez and Jon Lester (who Valentine left on the mound to absorb an 11-run pounding by the Toronto Blue Jays on July 22 -- an incident the report mentioned as a contributing factor to the team's dislike for its manager) are leading the charge against their manager, maybe Valentine isn't causing the team's poor play.

The trio of big names is playing some of its best ball this season.

Lester has bounced back from his horrendous outing against Toronto. He's made four starts since the debacle and has pitched reasonably well. In his last start he went six innings and struck out 12 Cleveland Indians.

Gonzalez has been the hottest hitter in baseball. He won American League Player of The Week last week.

Pedroia is hitting .378 in August with an OPS of .918.

Liking a manager doesn't always translate to wins, and disliking him doesn't always cause the ship to sink to the very bottom of the deep blue sea.

If you believe Terry Francona was a very good manager and did not deserve to lose his job last fall, I won't argue with you. We know that the Red Sox were quite fond of their former manager, and he led them to two World Series titles. The team also played well in 2008 and made the playoffs in 2009, but since then? It is worth noting that the Red Sox haven't made the playoffs since 2009. Who is responsible for that?

The team imploded in historical fashion under Francona. That doesn't necessarily mean he was to blame. I wouldn't blame him and remain a big fan of his. My point is that the way a team feels about its manager doesn't necessarily dictate how the team plays for him.

Realize that there are employees all over the world who don't like their bosses. Sometimes poor relationships can be detrimental to performance, and sometimes they are not.

I'm not saying the players are totally wrong here. It's okay to dislike your boss. It's okay to go to your superiors and complain about it. Organizations tend to work better when there are open lines of communication.

Clearly players can't refuse to play for Valentine and haven't. They might have said they wouldn't play for him, but everyone has been on the field playing baseball since the meeting.

Valentine may or may not be at fault here. As talk radio spins this into an "inmates running the asylum" circumstance, the real fact is that the key to getting this to work is that everyone needs to make sacrifices.

Valentine might need to tone down some his caustic verbal barbs. The players may need to come to terms with the fact that whether they like it or not, Terry Francona is gone. Would other managers have made fewer waves than Valentine? Probably, but does that really matter?

With a 57-59 record and several big-name players struggling to play to their potential, the Red Sox are the definition of mediocre.

There's only one cure for their issues. It isn't firing Valentine or gutting the team of all of the players (something they can't realistically do, anyway). The cure is winning.

A beginning to a solution might be to call a meeting -- not a players meeting or an upper management meeting, but one with the entire staff present. Clear the air. Let players gripe about last fall, about the way ownership handled Francona, about Valentine.

Let Valentine sound off as well. Let him tell the players and upper management that he's not responsible for last fall, the rash of injuries or any lingering animosity over his hiring.

Everyone needs to understand exactly where he stands. One thing I'd bet everyone would agree on is that the current atmosphere isn't helping, and that -- like it or not --the Red Sox are all in this together.

Forty-six games remain in the 2012 Red Sox season. How the Red Sox spend those games is entirely up to them -- not just the players, the manager or the owners. All of them, collectively.

They're called a "team."

Now, the Red Sox have to start acting like one.

Springfield-based Health New England is entering the Medicare Supplement market for the first time.

SPRINGFIELD – The cost of Medicare supplement health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts will drop by an average of 2.1 percent for 2013, the state insurance commissioner said Tuesday.

Prices for the plans, which sell under the Medex product name, vary with the size and scope of the policy. For one example, the Medex Bronze plan, the largest of the various Medex plans with 146,000 members, went from an average monthly cost of $186.47 to an average monthly cost of $183.73 , a drop of 1.3 percent, according to the state Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.

Senior citizens buy these Medicare supplement policies, often called “medigap” coverage, to full in the gaps left by the federal Medicare program, state Insurance Commissioner Joseph G. Murphy said in a telephone interview. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is the state’s largest health insurer provider and dominates the Medicare supplement market with about 160,000 customers statewide, Murphy said.

Springfield-based Health New England is entering the Medicare Supplement market for the first time, Murphy said. The state is currently reviewing Health New England’s proposed rate structure.

In the case of these Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts rates, Murphy said they are a continuation of a trend in the state of health insurance costs falling.

Murphy said there are indications across the industry that health-care utilization is down, that insured people are suing less health care and thus costs are falling.

“That doesn’t necessarily ring true in this market. It is generally an older market,” Murphy said.

Another reason may be the state’s insistence that insurers negotiate good deals with health care providers on behalf of their customers.

“So we are seeing some of the same trends overall in cost containment,” Murphy said.

In a written statement, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts said: “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has been a trusted provider of Medicare options for decades.”

Chung and Gregory's budding relationship is already harvesting results.

APPatrick Chung is optimistic that the secondary will improve this season.

FOXBOROUGH – If you happened to be eavesdropping without knowing the context of the conversation, you may think that Steve Gregory and Patrick Chung were discussing a marriage.

The words “communication,” “chemistry,” and “trust” litter their sentences as they describe their growing bond at back of the New England Patriots’ secondary, and dissect what the future may hold.

They both know that they need to make plays and provide solid coverage, but before that can happen, those key elements, which often times evaded the New England safeties last season, will have to take root before the duo can begin to flourish.

“It is kind of like a relationship,” Chung said. “Relationships can only get stronger so we're going to see how that goes. But yeah, I love playing next to him and he helps me out a lot."

After allowing the second most passing yards in the NFL last season, Chung can’t afford to have his words ring hollow once the snaps begin to count. But for now, playing in the protection of scrimmages and practice reps, it appears that New England’s new 1-2 punch at safety may have what it takes to pull the secondary out of slums and into respectability.

In the Patriots’ preseason opener against the New Orleans Saints, New England allowed just 188 passing yards and left Drew Brees scanning the field for an open target that didn’t exist during three of his four dropbacks. Both Gregory and Chung recorded an interception during the contest.

And during Tuesday’s training camp practice, where it hasn’t been uncommon for the secondary to shine, the group came together to make at least four interceptions against their prolific counterparts during team drills.

The reason for their early success, Gregory says, is in part due to the level of communication that is taking place between him and Chung.

“When you communicate you put yourself in positions to make plays,” Gregory said. “When you get guys lined up in the right areas, guys doing the right thing, guys on the same page – that’s how you make plays.”

The other reason is due to how quickly Gregory has been able to assimilate himself into the defense after spending the last six seasons playing for the San Diego Chargers, where many believe that he was miscast at strong safety.

Gregory no longer has to worry about his spot on the field since the Patriots are reluctant to use designations with their safeties, though Chung’s role is more in line with what a strong safety would typically do. For the rest, Gregory has leaned heavily on Chung to help him learn the schemes and responsibilities.

Chung, meanwhile, has made a habit of picking Gregory’s brain about different things he’s picked up over the years.
"We kind of help each other," Chung said. "He's a veteran he knows a lot of things that I don't know and he helps me out. I've been here for a while so I kind of help him out.

“He knows the system, so he’s been helping me out with that a little bit,” Gregory said. “There’s things we can both bring to each other. We talk a lot, talk football a lot, and it’s helping out.”

It may sound like Chung and Gregory’s relationship has the makings of a bad buddy flick, but if it harvests results, the Patriots will be all for it.

In a statement on his official website, OCNN, Chad Johnson reaffirmed his love for Evelyn Lozada.

Photo by Jeff Daly/Invision/APChad Johnson leaves Broward County Jail in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Dolphins terminated the six-time Pro Bowl receiver's contract about 24 hours after he was arrested in a domestic battery case involving his wife. Johnson was released from jail on $2,500 bond after his wife accused him of head-butting her during an argument in front of their home.

NEW YORK (AP) — Evelyn Lozada is ending her 41-day-old marriage to Chad Johnson after the football star was arrested for allegedly head-butting her over the weekend.

A rep for the VH1 reality star confirmed reports that Lozada filed for divorce Tuesday.

"Given the recent events that have taken place, Evelyn has decided to file for divorce and move on with her life," Lozada's lawyer, Michael B. Gilden, told the TV show "The Insider" in a statement.

Johnson released his own statement — the first since his arrest — on his official website, OCNN, and reaffirmed his love for Lozada.

"I am going to let the legal process run its course. I wish Evelyn nothing but the best, I have no negative words to say about her, the only thing I can say is I love her very much," said Johnson, who was dumped by the Miami Dolphins a day after the arrest.

"I will continue to be positive and stay training hard for another opportunity in the NFL. I appreciate all my fans and supporters and if I have disappointed you in any way, you have my sincerest apologies. Once again I will continue to stay positive and appreciate all the support during this tough period in my life."

The marriage imploded Saturday after an argument between the two ended with Lozada being treated at a hospital for lacerations to her head.

According to Davie, Fla., police, Lozada found a receipt for condoms and confronted Johnson about it at dinner. The argument continued during their drive home, and when they arrived at their driveway, he allegedly head-butted her.

In a 911 call released by authorities, a neighbor told police that there was an incident involving a "high-profile person" and is heard telling Lozada to wipe the blood from her head. Lozada is heard saying that Johnson head-butted her, and the caller says Lozada will probably need stitches.

However, Johnson told police she head-butted him.

Earlier Tuesday, Lozada said in a statement: "I am deeply disappointed that Chad has failed to take responsibility for his actions and made false accusations against me, it is my sincere hope that he seeks the help he needs to overcome his troubles. Domestic violence is not okay and hopefully my taking a stand will help encourage other women to break their silence as well."

Johnson is a six-time Pro Bowler who last season was on the New England Patriots.

His July 4 wedding to Lozada — whom he courted publicly on the VH1 series "Basketball Wives" — was taped for a spinoff show called "Ev & Ocho." It was due to debut Sept. 3, but VH1 shelved it after Johnson's weekend arrest.

Johnson — formerly known as Chad Ochocinco — and Lozada were prominently featured in the recent first episode of HBO's "Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Miami Dolphins."

Lozada was the former fiancee of former NBA player Antoine Walker and has been one of the main stars of "Basketball Wives," which also features Shaunie O'Neal, the former wife of former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal.

In court papers filed on Tuesday, Lozada says the two had a premarital agreement but asks Johnson pay for her attorney fees associated with the divorce.

Besides ending her marriage, Lozada also was mourning the loss of her brother-in-law, who walked her down the aisle and was to be a part of the "Ev & Ocho" show.

In Hampden County, the region’s largest housing market, the number of homes sold rose 2.3 percent from 262 in July 2011 to 268 in July 2012.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 10:43 this morning.

SPRINGFIELD – Sales of single-family homes rose 9 percent in July across the Pioneer Valley in what many see as a sign that the residential real estate market is recovering, or at least the market has arrested its decline.

There were 391 homes sold in July 2011 and 426 homes sold in July 2012, according to data released Tuesday by The Realtor Association of Pioneer Valley. The median price paid for those homes fell slightly by 0.8 percent from $192,000 to $190,000.

“I think what we have seen is people sitting on the sidelines waiting for the market to recover,” said Robert J. Michel, senior vice president and division executive for retail and consumer lending at Hampden Bank. “But now those people have started coming off the sidelines. We are seeing increased purchase requests here at Hampden Bank. We are sensing there are more purchases being made now than in the past.”

Michel said sellers are pricing property lower, in tune with a changed economy. Also, low mortgage interest rates are making it more affordable to buy.

A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.49 percent for the week ending July 26, according to FreddieMac.com.

“It is probably better for a lot of first-time home buyers to buy right now than it is to rent,” said Charles E. Reiter, a team leader with Keller Williams Realty Pioneer Valley.

Karen C. King, a Realtor with the Karen King Group of Re/Max Prestige in Wilbraham, said she thinks the region has seen the worst of the foreclosure crisis. “I even received multiple offers last week on a property,” King said. “It’s probably been five years, truthfully, since that happened. I think buyers are understanding that the market has bottomed out.”

She’s also had bank appraisals come back higher than the asking price for the home, King said. That’s a sure sign that the market is rebounding because those appraisers tend to be conservative, she said.

In Hampden County, the region’s largest housing market, the number of homes sold rose 2.3 percent from 262 in July 2011 to 268 in July 2012. The median price rose 3.6 percent from $169,000 to $175,000.

In Hampshire County, sales rose 20.7 percent from 92 to 111 and the median price fell 2.1 percent from $264,500 to $259,000.

In Franklin County, sales rose 27 percent from 37 in July 2011 to 47 in July 20 2012. The median price paid in Franklin County fell 1.6 percent from $188,000 to $185,000.

On a month-to-month basis, sales regionwide fell 14.3 percent from 497 in June 2012. But the median price rose 3 percent from $1285,000 in July 2012.

Taking a longer view, the median price of a single-family home has fallen 12.4 percent over eight years to $190,500.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up under 3 points to close at 13,172.

Associated Press | Mark HumphreyA Home Depot sign is shown in Nashville, Tenn. The Home Depot Inc. is feeling more optimistic about the recovery of the housing market after customers spent more on remodeling and repair projects in the second quarter. The biggest U.S. home-improvement retailer reported Tuesday that stronger sales of paint, bath accessories and kitchen installations helped lift its net income by 12 percent during the period. Lower costs also contributed to the improved results.

By PALLAVI GOGOI

NEW YORK – Shoppers are starting to spend, but business owners aren’t so sure their customers will keep coming back.

These conflicting signals confused investors, who first bought stocks and then sold them as the day progressed Tuesday. It didn’t help that there were fewer stock traders in the market as is common during the summer months, which led to lower than usual trading volume.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 2.71 points at 13,172.14. It was up as much as 53 points at midday. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 0.18 point to 1,403.93 and the Nasdaq composite index fell 5.54 points to 3,016.98.

Earlier, investors were energized by a surprise gain in retail sales in July. That report provided evidence that American shoppers are still spending even as their counterparts in Europe and Asia slow down.

However, another report showed that U.S. companies weren’t restocking their shelves or their warehouses fast enough, a signal that they believed shoppers weren’t going to continue spending.

U.S. retail sales rose in July by the largest amount in five months as Americans spent more on cars, furniture and clothes. The 0.8 percent gain was better than analysts were expecting and showed that U.S. consumers spend at stores after cutting back in the April to June period.

JJ Kinahan, a strategist at online broker TD Ameritrade, said the increase wasn’t enough to justify a significant upward move in the stock market.

“Consumers are still cautious,” Kinahan said. “Even numbers that are marginally better look good when compared to a trough.”

Investors did sell low-risk assets, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note up to 1.73 percent from 1.66 percent late Monday.

Stocks were held back by a report that U.S. companies barely increased their inventories in June. The slower restocking trend could act as a drag on overall economic growth. When businesses place fewer orders, factory production slows.

“The data points to the fact that the economy is stabilizing at a lower level,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at investment bank Rockwell Global Capital. “While the economy isn’t slipping further, it leaves open the possibility of the Fed’s support for the economy to grow at a better rate.”

Many economists believe the Federal Reserve will try to stimulate the economy by launching another program of buying government bonds and mortgage-backed securities to keep interest rates low. They will be closely watching Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech on Aug. 31 at an annual economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

With most European leaders and Washington away on vacation, there hasn’t been much news to move the market. In the last seven trading days the Dow’s biggest move was a 51-point gain on Aug. 7. As is typical of late summer months, trading volumes have also been light, averaging between two and three billion shares a day, as opposed to four and five billion during the rest of the year.

Home Depot jumped $1.89 to $54.71. The world’s biggest home-improvement retailer posted a 12 percent jump in net income and increased its earnings forecast for the entire year. Home Depot’s fortunes are closely tied to the housing market, which has been improving. On Thursday, the Department of Commerce releases the housing starts and building permits report for July.

The number of declining stocks narrowly outpaced rising ones on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was very light at 2.9 billion shares.

Among other stocks that also made big moves:

• Groupon plummeted 27 percent. The online coupon company’s stock closed at an all-time low of $5.51, down $2.04 after its sales growth fell short of expectations partly due to worsening conditions in Europe.

• Estee Lauder rose $5.12, or 9 percent, to $60.13. The beauty company, whose brands include MAC and Aveda, reported results that topped Wall Street expectations. The company also raised its revenue forecast for the year.

• NCR Corp. fell close to 10 percent following allegations that the ATM maker has violated sanctions and a federal corruption law by operating a subsidiary in Syria and working with blacklisted banks in the country. NCR’s stock was off $2.47 at $22.65.

The cost of road repairs is estimated at nearly $100,000.

The Republican file photo | Don TreegerWorkers from Palmer Paving repair flood damage to Beebe Road in Monson on Monday after weekend storms pounded the area.

MONSON - The state of emergency, in place since Sunday's storm that dumped nearly six inches of rain and damaged close to a dozen roads, will be lifted on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

The Board of Selectmen, at their Tuesday meeting, voted to lift the state of emergency after they were updated about the progress of road repairs by Highway Surveyor John R. Morrell.

The board also will seek authorization from the state Department of Revenue to deficit spend to cover the $97,680 cost to fix the roads, and will revisit the funding at the Special Town Meeting in the fall.

"Essentially we do have the funding to pay for this," Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers said.

She said the town has approximately $500,000 in its stabilization account. She commended Morrell for keeping the costs of the road repairs low, and restricting the use of outside contractors.

All roads were reopened by 6 p.m. Sunday, and selectmen and Neggers praised Morrell for his quick work. She noted that the storm was not "a disaster," but an "emergency."

Monson experienced similar flash flooding issues in 2001 and 2005, Neggers said.

Outside the meeting room, Morrell said the remaining safety issues regarding the roads should be resolved Wednesday. He said he takes these incidents in stride, having worked for the department for 42 years.

"It's part of the job. It's part of what happens and we're prepared for them," Morrell said.

He did say "it's too bad we keep getting hit like this." Last year, the town was struck by a tornado in June, then an unprecedented snowstorm in October.

Roads that were affected by Sunday's rains were Beebe, Fenton, Chestnut, T-Peck, Wood Hill, Reimers, Aldrich and High, as well as Harrison Avenue and Homer Drive.
Beebe and T-Peck roads, along with Chestnut Street, had the worst damage, as pavement was washed away and sink holes were created. Beebe Road lost 215 feet of roadway in the storm, Morrell said.

As part of the vigil, residents of Cathedral Hill Apartments at Bowdoin and St. James Avenue lit candles and paraded around the perimeter of the property.

SPRINGFIELD - More than 40 residents of an apartment complex in the city’s McKnight neighborhood assembled Tuesday night in a community vigil calling for solidarity and peace in the wake of what organizers say are ongoing problems with violent crime.

As part of the vigil, residents of Cathedral Hill Apartments at Bowdoin Street and St. James Avenue said prayers, lit candles and paraded around the perimeter of the property.

The apartment complex is roughly seven or eight blocks away from the city’s latest homicide, the shooting death early Saturday of 38-year-old Antonio Gonzales during a disturbance near 305 Bay St. Sixteen-year-old Joshua Pena is under arrest and charged with murder.

Organizers said the vigil was not arranged as a result of the Gonzales shooting, but rather a series of troubling incidents at and around the apartment complex over the last several months.

Keya Hicks of the Alliance to Develop Power, the group that organized the vigil, said there have been problems with drugs, gang violence and guns that have combined to terrorize the residents. Several months ago, a bullet crashed through the bedroom window of one of the apartment, narrowly missing a child who was asleep, she said.

“People don’t want to be hostages in their own homes,” she said.

Cathedral Hill Apartments is a 48-unit co-operative housing complex owned by the Alliance to Develop Power, a non-profit community-based advocacy group that works on behalf of low-income families.

Hicks said the vigil is not intended to be an endpoint as much as it is a beginning. The goal is to continue to bring people in the neighborhood together to work with police and the city to make quality-of-life improvements.

In the coming weeks, she said, residents will be working on a campaign to promote safety in the area while working to build a stronger relationship with the police.

“We are just trying to bring people out and show solidarity and unity,” she said. “We are united for peace.”

Theresa Cooper-Gordon of ADP told the gathering “Thank you for coming out to support peace and unity. We are here today to pray together for the unity that is the foundation of a community.”

Rev. David Ramos of the New England Interfaith Chaplaincy said urged the gathering to not fight or argue over what he called little things.

"Let’s forget about the small things and concentrate on the bigger things and try to live our lives in peace.," he said.