"Springfield educator named Mass. Teacher of Year" by Lauren Dezenski | Globe Correspondent, May 08, 2013
An English language arts teacher at Springfield Central High School who had originally planned to become a screenwriter was honored Tuesday as the state’s Teacher of the Year.
Anne Marie Bettencourt, a New Bedford native who lives in Hatfield, said winning the award was a “huge, unexpected honor.”
When she got the call, she said in an interview, “it was a delayed reaction, and then it hit me: ‘It was me. It was me.’ ”
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Related: Ex-official at Springfield college stole TV, received unapproved travel expenses
Let's accentuate the positive:
"Dr. Seuss literacy exhibit gets a grant
The Springfield Museums have been awarded a $150,000 grant to help create an interactive, literacy-based exhibit for children based on the works of Dr. Seuss. The grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services will help build ‘‘The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss.’’ The 3,200-square-foot, bilingual exhibition is designed to instill a love of reading and to introduce children and their families to the stories of the Springfield-born author whose real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel. The Republican newspaper of Springfield reports that the exhibit will provide opportunities to explore new vocabulary, play rhyming games, invent stories, and engage in activities that encourage teamwork and creative thinking. The Springfield Museums includes several museums, including the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden."
Instill a love of reading that newspapers will destroy. Besides, I don't like green eggs and ham.
Instill a love of reading that newspapers will destroy. Besides, I don't like green eggs and ham.
"The MBTA has received a $15 million federal grant that will allow the authority to replace between 30 and 35 of its oldest diesel buses with new, energy-efficient vehicles, officials said Tuesday."
I thought we were in a time of austerity, but I gue$$ certain intere$t$ are always $erviced.
"Victim identified in fatal Springfield hit-and-run" by Martine Powers | Globe Staff, July 28, 2012
SPRINGFIELD — Police are searching for the driver of a station wagon they said struck and killed Ashley Ballester, 19, as she tried to push a stroller across the street. The driver then fled, police said.
Lieutenant Robert Moynihan of the Springfield Police Department said Saturday that a toddler, who was in the stroller and believed to be the woman’s daughter, was recovering from non-life-threatening injuries at Baystate Medical Center.
“It’s still under investigation,’’ said Moynihan.
A friend of the Ballester family, Anicasia Rivera, said Saturday that the child, who will turn 2 Friday, has three broken ribs and 25 stitches on the side of her head.
The crash occurred at about 8:30 p.m. Friday, as Ballester tried to cross the road with the stroller at 685 Sumner Ave., where there is no crosswalk.
A gray Suzuki station wagon struck the two, Moynihan said, throwing the child to the curb and dragging the stroller several feet. The woman was knocked into the center of the street, where she was struck by a second vehicle.
Stephen Milczarski, 50, who lives across the street from the site of the crash, heard the impact from inside his house, ran outside. “I saw her laying on the ground, and the kid laying on the tree belt,” Milczarski said. “The kid was screaming. The girl wasn’t moving.”
Emergency responders performed CPR on Ballester at the scene. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital, said Captain William Collins of Springfield police.
The driver of the station wagon left, Collins said. Police later received a call from the car’s owner, who said the vehicle had been taken by an acquaintance without her permission.
It was left at her home on Kensington Avenue, a few blocks away from the site of the collision, with damage to the exterior. Police believe they know who was driving the car, and are trying to contact that person, Collins said.
Collins said he did not know if there was any indication that the driver was speeding or driving erratically.
The driver of the second vehicle that hit Ballester stopped at the scene. Collins said there was “probably not” any wrongdoing on her part, because she was the first car in oncoming traffic and probably could not avoid hitting Ballester.
Rivera, 68, lived next-door to the Ballester family up until February, when they moved to another home in Springfield. She said she visited the child in the hospital Saturday, and saw the child’s extensive injuries.
Rivera’s husband, Jose Rivera, 74, said the woman, as well as her family, was always helpful — especially in times of need. When he underwent surgery, Jose Rivera recalled, Ballester brought over food and helped shovel his driveway.
“She was friendly,” Jose Rivera said. “You don’t find many friendly people today.”
Milczarski said the stretch of Sumner Avenue where the crash occurred is dangerous: In the one year that he has lived there, he has seen four to five other pedestrians struck by cars, though none of those incidents were serious. The street, he said, needs better lights.
“You’d be lucky if those streetlights are 150 watts,” Milczarski said. “They’re pretty much useless.”
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Related:
Man arrested in crash that killed young mother
Man arrested in crash that killed young mother
Springfield man, 21, killed in Chicopee after State Police chase
"Victim identified in fatal Springfield hit-and-run" by Martine Powers | Globe Staff, July 28, 2012
SPRINGFIELD — Police are searching for the driver of a station wagon they said struck and killed Ashley Ballester, 19, as she tried to push a stroller across the street. The driver then fled, police said.
Lieutenant Robert Moynihan of the Springfield Police Department said Saturday that a toddler, who was in the stroller and believed to be the woman’s daughter, was recovering from non-life-threatening injuries at Baystate Medical Center.
“It’s still under investigation,’’ said Moynihan.
A friend of the Ballester family, Anicasia Rivera, said Saturday that the child, who will turn 2 Friday, has three broken ribs and 25 stitches on the side of her head.
The crash occurred at about 8:30 p.m. Friday, as Ballester tried to cross the road with the stroller at 685 Sumner Ave., where there is no crosswalk.
A gray Suzuki station wagon struck the two, Moynihan said, throwing the child to the curb and dragging the stroller several feet. The woman was knocked into the center of the street, where she was struck by a second vehicle.
Stephen Milczarski, 50, who lives across the street from the site of the crash, heard the impact from inside his house, ran outside. “I saw her laying on the ground, and the kid laying on the tree belt,” Milczarski said. “The kid was screaming. The girl wasn’t moving.”
Emergency responders performed CPR on Ballester at the scene. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital, said Captain William Collins of Springfield police.
The driver of the station wagon left, Collins said. Police later received a call from the car’s owner, who said the vehicle had been taken by an acquaintance without her permission.
It was left at her home on Kensington Avenue, a few blocks away from the site of the collision, with damage to the exterior. Police believe they know who was driving the car, and are trying to contact that person, Collins said.
Collins said he did not know if there was any indication that the driver was speeding or driving erratically.
The driver of the second vehicle that hit Ballester stopped at the scene. Collins said there was “probably not” any wrongdoing on her part, because she was the first car in oncoming traffic and probably could not avoid hitting Ballester.
Rivera, 68, lived next-door to the Ballester family up until February, when they moved to another home in Springfield. She said she visited the child in the hospital Saturday, and saw the child’s extensive injuries.
Rivera’s husband, Jose Rivera, 74, said the woman, as well as her family, was always helpful — especially in times of need. When he underwent surgery, Jose Rivera recalled, Ballester brought over food and helped shovel his driveway.
“She was friendly,” Jose Rivera said. “You don’t find many friendly people today.”
Milczarski said the stretch of Sumner Avenue where the crash occurred is dangerous: In the one year that he has lived there, he has seen four to five other pedestrians struck by cars, though none of those incidents were serious. The street, he said, needs better lights.
“You’d be lucky if those streetlights are 150 watts,” Milczarski said. “They’re pretty much useless.”
--more--"
Related:
Man arrested in crash that killed young mother
Man arrested in crash that killed young mother
Springfield man, 21, killed in Chicopee after State Police chase
1 badly wounded in double shooting
Man, 42, shot to death in Springfield
Springfield business owner denies plotting to kill his girlfriend’s son
State Supreme Judicial Court orders new hearing in brutality case
Adding to the backlog:
"System feels strain as a US judgeship sits empty; Solution sought for Springfield" by Milton J. Valencia | Globe Staff, April 15, 2013
Man, 42, shot to death in Springfield
Springfield business owner denies plotting to kill his girlfriend’s son
State Supreme Judicial Court orders new hearing in brutality case
Adding to the backlog:
"System feels strain as a US judgeship sits empty; Solution sought for Springfield" by Milton J. Valencia | Globe Staff, April 15, 2013
Nearly three years have passed and no judge has been appointed to replace US District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor — a delay that legal observers say is beginning to take a toll on the federal judicial system in Western Massachusetts, with cases being postponed and Boston judges being forced to trek to Springfield to hold hearings....
It is unclear why the seat has not been filled, although some blame the partisan gridlock in Washington.
See: Sunday Globe Special: Courting the Senate
The state’s US senators did their part in August 2011, when John F. Kerry, then the state’s senior senator, and Scott Brown put forth the name of state Superior Court Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder.
White House officials would not comment on their decision to not nominate Kinder, which would have begun the Congressional approval process. Last month, Kinder withdrew his name for consideration for the post.
Ponsor, as a senior judge, is still hearing cases, but has reduced his workload by about 20 percent. This has led to delays and placed a burden on judges in the Boston region.
In one case, a judge had to stay multiple nights in Springfield to hold a trial. Others have made the five-hour round-trip commute only to sentence a defendant, a process that can take less than an hour.
Elizabeth Warren, who took over as the state’s senior senator in February, has formed a search committee to try to find a replacement — a move that legal observers hope will reignite the process and provide some sense of urgency.
The committee, headed by retired US District Court Judge Nancy Gertner, will also search for a replacement for US District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf, who effective Jan. 1 took senior status and a reduced caseload....
Kinder did not return a phone call seeking comment, but wrote in a March 8 letter to Warren that he did not want to be reconsidered for an appointment by the senator’s new committee....
A spokesman for Warren could not say why the White House had not nominated Kinder.
John Pucci, a Springfield-based attorney who has been appointed to Warren’s committee to recommend nominees for the Springfield judgeship, said whatever the reason for the delay, the position needs to be filled soon.
“We were not having any success in getting Judge Kinder to the bench,” Pucci said, adding, “We need the vacancy to be filled to have all the cases in the Western counties where they belong, which is in Springfield.”
Pucci said that, with Ponsor reducing his caseload, some civil cases have been moved to Boston, though criminal cases have had to remain in Springfield.
“There’s really an access to justice problem in Western Massachusetts,” Pucci said.
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Speaking of delays:
"Families frustrated with delayed autopsies
Some families in Western Massachusetts say they’re frustrated that autopsy reports on their loved ones’ deaths are taking so long. The Republican of Springfield reports that some families have been waiting for more than a year for autopsy findings. The Holyoke medical examiner’s office serves all four western counties. A bottleneck has developed since one of the office’s two medical examiners retired two years ago. State records show the Holyoke office is sending more and more bodies to the busy Boston medical examiners’ office — 369 last year compared with none in 2010. State officials said there is no money to hire a second medical examiner in Holyoke, but they’re discussing how to improve service in the region."
Related: Springfield man cleared in killing
The Republican newspaper of Springfield reported.
Maybe I'm reading the wrong paper. A bottleneck of dead bodies.
Related: Hampden district attorney creates DNA unit
No delay there.
"Woman jailed in threats to Scott Brown, Martha Coakley" by Haven Orecchio-Egresitz | Globe Correspondent, January 11, 2013
A New York woman was sentenced to 27 months in prison Thursday in US District Court in Springfield for sending threatening letters containing white powder to government offices in Massachusetts, said the office of US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz. Roberta Cicora, 57, was also ordered to pay $4,630 for hazardous materials service, a spokeswoman for Ortiz said. Cicora pleaded guilty to mailing four threatening communications, which included an unknown white powder, to US Senator Scott Brown, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and the district court in Greenfield in May 2012, Ortiz’s office said. Cicora also sent a threatening letter to the Franklin County House of Correction in Greenfield."
Related(?): FBI searches home in inquiry on ricin
Notice how quickly these cases dissolve?
Probably 'cause no one is buying it anymore.
