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One of our friends at IllinoisCarry.com created this image that compares the IGOLD march with an event that happened yesterday in the Thompson Center.

Three of the 333 firearms handed over during a seven-hour buyback conducted by Springfield police on Saturday were deemed by officers to be assault weapons. Officer Richard Rodrigues said one of the weapons was a Chinese model, another resembled an AR-15 and the third was a Hi-Tec. Each one of those weapons netted $100 worth of VISA gift cards for those who turned them in. Information on the specific models was not immediately available. ... Of the firearms turned in Saturday, 112 were shotguns, 101 were handguns, 117 were rifles and three were black powder guns, Rodrigues said. Two additional...

Neighbors and activists, who stood out in the bitter cold for more an hour on Wednesday morning to protest the planned eviction of Jeffery Solivan of 32 Edgemont St., cheered after hearing that Fannie Mae had canceled its action. The protest kicked off just before 8 a.m., initially with about a dozen people and grew to about 30 people when word came that the eviction was off. No date has been given for a new eviction. Solivan said he hopes something can be negotiated with the lender that will allow him to keep his home, in the Pine Point neighborhood....

The City of Firsts has ranked as the second-most gay friendly city in the nation according to a new list compiled by the LGBT publication Advocate magazine. Springfield, coming in just behind Tacoma, Wash., nearly topped the 2013 list based on several factors including the number of LGBT elected officials, embracing marriage equality and the existence of a roller derby league based in the city. Providence, R.I. was the only other New England city named by the magazine in its list, which looked only at municipalities with a population of at least 150,000. "The city is among the top 10...

Smith & Wesson has announced record sales for its most recent quarter. Net sales from continuing operations for the second quarter were a record $136.6 million, up 48 percent from the second quarter last year, according to a news release issued this week. It was the second consecutive quarter of record sales. The company employs more than 1,200 workers at its factory and headquarters on Roosevelt Avenue. Federal background checks for gun purchasers were up over Black Friday. Many observers say that's because gun buyers fear that a re-elected President Barack Obama will impose more gun restrictions. But Smith &...

Local NAACP chapter president Rev. Talbert W. Swan II has called on the city to conduct a national search for a new fire commissioner, rather than lowering hiring qualifications to allow acting Fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant to keep the job. One day after winning re-election as president of the Springfield NAACP chapter, Swan said the handling of the fire commissioner’s vacancy suggests that politics, rather than professional credentials and experience, is the prime concern of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and other city officials. “Watering down the requirements for the sake of a single preferred candidate sends a questionable message...

The massive explosion that rocked Springfield's entertainment district, leveling a strip club and injuring 21 people, was caused by "human error," according to Massachusetts Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan. Officials said a thorough, block-by-block investigation since Friday's blast indicates the city's gas system is safe, intact and functioning properly. The probe will now focus on the Columbia Gas employee responsible for puncturing a gas line with a tool, and whether proper protocol was followed in the build-up to Friday's explosion. The blast injured 21 people, damaged more than three dozen buildings, and prompted a large-scale evacuation of the city's downtown...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Preliminary investigations show more than 40 buildings were damaged in a natural gas explosion in Massachusetts that injured 18 people, building inspectors said Saturday. A strip club was flattened and a day care center was heavily damaged in the massive explosion Friday night in Springfield, one of New England's biggest cities. No one was killed in the explosion. Investigators were trying Saturday to figure out what caused the blast that could be heard for miles, left a large hole in the ground where the multistory brick building housing Scores Gentleman's Club once stood and scattered debris...

In the final stretch of the Massachusetts Senate race between Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democrat Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law School professor took time to shake hands and meet voters at a city bakery on Monday. During a visit that spanned nearly an hour, Warren took pictures with dozens of Latino residents inside the Puerto Rico Bakery on Armory Street while addressing some of the themes that have defined her candidacy. Alongside State Reps. Benjamin Swan and Sean Curran, both Springfield Democrats, Warren reiterated her belief that Washington is rigged for big business and that she wants to...

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken reminded a crowd of unionized health care workers here Saturday about the importance of their get-out-the-vote effort in the city and elsewhere for fellow Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who's running a close race against incumbent Massachusetts GOP Sen. Scott Brown. Franken -- elected to the Senate by a razor-thin 312 votes four years ago -- told members of SEIU Local 1199 that it's "absolutely critical" to knock on every door and make every phone call. "This is about turnout," he said. "No stones unturned," shouted a man in the crowd. Tim Foley, the union's political director,...

President Obama's campaign has raised millions of dollars, but officials in Springfield Illinois are still griping about an upaid bill from a 2008 campaign rally. When he was a candidate in August of 2008, Barack Obama used Springfield as a backdrop to introduce Joe Biden as his running mate. However Springfield Alderman Frank Edwards tells WLS that the Obama campaign has refused to pay $55,000 it owes in police overtime costs: "If you're going to go after your citizens for bills they owe you then everybody's in. And that's just kind of the way I look at it. I think...

Live from Symphony Hall in Springfield, MA.

The elevated section of Interstate 91 downtown needs $360 million to $400 million worth of reconstruction within the next few years, but local, state and federal transportation planners are only now starting to figure out how to pay for the project and what Springfield’s city center might look like when it's done. Options on the table include demolishing the viaduct and making I-91 a surface road or burying the interstate in the style of Boston’s notorious Big Dig. Springfield’s elevated stretch of Interstate 91 has long been blamed for smothering downtown development by cutting the city off from the Connecticut...

Nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center have hit the picket line. The strike is scheduled to run 24 hours, from 7:00 a.m. Friday to 7:00 a.m. Saturday. Friday’s job action, which the union says is the first in the hospital’s history, comes after months of negotiations over a new contract. The Mass. Nurses Association says that they have been bargained 28 times over the last year where “Baystate Management has committed a number of unfair labor practices and has refused to make the necessary compromises to settle an equitable contract.” However, Baystate Franklin says that they have come with proposals,...

More than 125 unionized nurses and their supporters picketed Baystate Medical Center on Wednesday afternoon, hours before heading into the last scheduled bargaining session before a one-day strike at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield. "We hope to get it settled, we really do," said Donna L. Stern of Greenfield, a registered nurse and co-chairwoman of the bargaining committee. "I can't wait to get back to taking care of patients. I love being a nurse." If an agreement is not reached, the nurses will strike for 24 hours from 7 a.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday. But Stern and her...

State and federal officials are set to announce $121 million in federal funding for a high-speed rail project between New Haven and Springfield, Mass. In addition to Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who will announce the funding, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin support the 62-mile project. It calls for service every 30 minutes during peak periods and every 60 minutes at other times. Speeds would reach up to 110 miles an hour. Malloy's office projects 1.26 million riders annually by 2030. The state says it expects to finish design work next year and launch service in...

Rev. Talbert Swan, president of the Springfield branch of the NAACP, has requested meetings with the four companies that have expressed interest in bringing a casino to the city, as well as Mayor Domenic Sarno, to discuss efforts to hire minorities and women should voters approve one of the proposals. "In a stricken economy, where communities of color are the most heavily affected, a proposal to create hundreds of permanent jobs along with many temporary construction jobs should include a plan to ensure fair participation by residents of color," Swam wrote in a letter to the four casino operators, MGM...

"The first Frostop Root Beer stand opened in Springfield, OH in 1926. The company expanded nationwide, reaching over 100 locations by 1958".-- At the time if you wanted to hang out or take your girl for a bite you went to the Frostop Drive In ! A tray on the window, big frosty glass mug of cold rootbeer and the best chili dog I ever ate... so good that I don't know what else was on the menu, I never looked. The best cars in town were there and the cutest girls.....

The Rev. Talbert W. Swan II said he and other local clergy will meet privately with Springfield Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet before a public meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Spring of Hope Church of God in Chist, 35 Alden St. "We reached out really to see what we, as clergy, can do to reduce some of the violent crime," Swan said, explaining the reason for this evening's meeting with the commissioner. Swan said the private meeting, which will begin at about 6 p.m., is a chance for religious leaders to see how they can help quell...

State police, in wake of an uptick in gun violence that has most recently taken the life of a 29-year-old city man who was shot in the head Friday during a home invasion in the Forest Park neighborhood, have agreed to step up patrols here. “I would like to see the CAT team in here more regularly so we can quell this,” Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said Sarno said he met with Commissioner William J. Fitchet Monday morning to discuss the seeking of enhanced state police support to help combat the gun violence that has taken two lives and injured...

A car accident was the reason for a power outage in Springfield's Pine Point neighborhood this afternoon. Springfield Police Lieutenant John Bobianski told 22News an SUV crashed into a utility pole at Bay and Haskins Streets around 3:30. Power was knocked out in the surrounding neighborhood. 22News was there as WMECO crews worked to restore that power and clean up the downed wires. A passenger in that SUV was taken to Baystate Medical Center with a head injury. No charges were filed.

he Urban League of Springfield has sued the city, saying when the city took it’s land and building by eminent domain the payment was “grossly unfair, totally inadequate, and does not reflect the fair market value” of the property. City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula said he has not seen the suit filed in Hampden Superior Court late last month and cannot comment. The city took the 756 State St. property by eminent domain in September 2009 and opened the Mason Square branch of the city library there in April 2011. That location had been a full service library until 2003,...

Federal prosecutors announced Thursday they have indicted Pete Seda, the head of the Ashland branch of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, on fraud and tax charges. Seda, also known as Pirouz Sedaghaty and Abu Yunus, and another officer of the foundation, Soliman Hamd Al-Buthe, are part of a three-count indictment for illegally transporting $150,000 to Saudi Arabia. The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, charges them with conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing a false IRS return for a tax-exempt corporation and failure to file a report of international transportation of currency. Known locally as a peace activist,...

A 38-year-old city man lost his life on Bay Street as he walked to get cigarettes early Saturday morning, shot by a teenage gunman who had been attending a birthday party, neighbors said. Police on Saturday morning could not be reached to confirm the account. WWLP-Channel 22 reported that the victim was 38-years-old, and a 16-year-old boy had been arrested. The shooting happened in the area of 305 Bay St., next to the apartment block where the man lived, according to a neighbor. Neighbor Lila Acevedo, who lives next door to 305 Bay St., said there was a crowd of...

On the heels of her live chat with the MassLive.com readers, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren is again taking her campaign westward for events in Pittsfield, Springfield and Westfield. On Sunday, Warren, who is aiming to unseat Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown, will visit Pittsfield in Berkshire County to engage voters in a conversation about the issues that are in the spotlight this election season. Billed as an ice cream social, the gathering will take place at the campaign headquarters she shares with Democratic U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who is running to represent the newly drawn 1st Congressional District...

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts on Thursday filed a request for records from several police departments, including Springfield, to determine if the use of automatic license plate readers goes too far and could infringe on rights to privacy. Police Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said there is just one license plate reader used by the department to detect stolen cars and unregistered cars, with no ill intent. “It’s not ‘big brother,’” Delaney said. “We don’t use it to monitor anybody’s movement. It is only used for law enforcement, stolen cars and other investigations.”...

With more than 130 in attendance and about a dozen onlookers on scene hoping to catch a glimpse of America's 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. Among the attendees joining Obama for lunch in the MassMutual Room of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield on Friday were NBA player Grant Hill, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, State Auditor Suzanne Bump, Congressman Richard Neal, D-Springfield, the recently retired former state Rep. Raymond Jordan, and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno....

......The Romney campaign paid its bill last week, about a month after the city sent its invoice. The Obama bill, on the other hand, was sent in May and has not been paid. City spokeswoman Tara Finnigan said the city's billing system would be sending past-due notices. About three weeks ago, the Democratic National Committee contacted the city and told officials to deal with the Secret Service. The DNC and the Republican National Committee split their Newport Beach event proceeds with the respective campaigns. ...... Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, a Republican, said, "It's the city's intention to apply its usual policies...

The city of Newport Beach, California says it may seek out the assistance of a collection agency to retrieve $35,000 the Obama campaign owes the city for providing police protection during a February, 2012 fund-raising event. The bill was sent in May and was due in June. The city recently emailed the campaign a reminder. The DNC told the city about three weeks ago to deal with the Secret Service. However, [Secret Service] agency spokesman Max Milien [said] that it won't pay. Councilwoman Leslie Daigle says the city intends to apply its usual policies and send the bill to collections....

The Romney team today confirmed grass-roots reports that a campaign bus was sabotaged by an unknown vandal over the weekend. The bus, which was being used for campaign events but not transporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, was parked in Richmond, Va., when the vehicle was tampered with late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. A Romney campaign official told PJM that the alternator belt was cut. Repairs were under way Monday to get the bus back on the road for a voter registration event in Springfield, Va., from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Springfield Metro Commuter Lot....

A report of shots fired in the Bay neighborhood early Monday afternoon led to the arrest of three city men and the seizure of a handgun that had been reported stolen in Amherst over three years ago. All three suspects were ordered held in lieu of $25,000 cash bail following their arraignments in District Court. Police, alerted by the city’s ShotSpotter audio surveillance system and 911 callers, responded to the area of Girard and Hayden avenues shortly after 1:15 p.m., according to a release issued by Commissioner William J. Fitchet’s office. An anonymous tipster told police that a black SUV...

U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren passionately defended her Native American heritage, after reaching Springfield by train today for the state Democratic Convention on Saturday. About 5,000 delegates on Saturday are expected to vote to endorse Warren as the Democratic pick for Senate to face Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown in November. The endorsement could give her some momentum for the months before the general election. "My mother and father fell in love," Warren, 63, told reporters after disembarking from a train with dozens of supporters at the train station and then rallying backers with a stump speech at Stearns Square...

Springfield Police officer Kevin Ambrose was shot and killed responding to a domestic dispute Monday afternoon at the Lawton Arms apartment complex in the Sixteen Acres neighborhood. An officer's death was confirmed by Sgt. John Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William Fitchet. The flag at police headquarters on Pearl Street was lowered to half staff. An email sent from City Hall notifying city councilors and media that a City Council Casino Site Committee meeting had been canceled "Due to the death of Police Officer Kevin Ambrose." Springfield City Council President James J. Ferrera III said the regular council meeting Monday...

‘Thousands of dollars” in state grants awarded to bolster health care in minority communities instead went to pay campaign workers for former state Sen. Rickey Hendon and Democratic candidates Hendon supported, a Chicago nurse has told investigators. The nurse, Tonja Cook, 44, detailed her allegations in four interviews with state and federal authorities between October 2010 and May 2011, records show. In June 2011, federal prosecutors in Springfield charged Cook and another Chicago nurse, Margaret A. Davis, with siphoning $500,000 from state grant funds for Davis’ “personal use.” Hendon, 58, a West Side Democrat who unexpectedly retired from the Senate...

The School Department’s new policy on making condoms available to students ages 12 or over will be subject to discussion at a public hearing Wednesday at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The event, scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., will be held in the Mass Mutual Gallery Room, 1150 West Columbus Ave. Azell Cavaan, school spokeswoman, said all parents with children in the city’s public school system are invited to attend. The event is being held to “get input from people on how the policy will be implemented,” Cavaan said. The event is being co-sponsored by the...

The ragged-looking grass growing up around the veterans’ monument in the center of Avalon Park was getting on Ron Davis’ nerves. That’s why on Friday Davis, who lives across from the park on Revere Street with his wife Barbara, paid a contractor $175 from his own pocket to cut the grass in time for Memorial Day. “I’m not angry at the city,” Davis said. “I just got sick of looking at it.” Patrick J. Sullivan, director of Springfield parks, buildings and recreation management, said he’s also sick of looking at unkempt parks. But budget constraints have forced him to prioritize....

TD Bank is closing its customer service call center at 1441 Main Street and eliminated 200 call center jobs. But those workers may have a lifeline in the form of Thing5, a fast-growing company that is still looking for 350 employees to staff a call center it just completed in the neighboring One Financial Place Building at 1350 Main Street. The center is scheduled to close in December. “So technically we could absorb them all. I don’t know if what we have is right for all those people. But by numbers we could absorb them all, “ said David Thor,...

More than a year ago, before most people had ever heard of Trayvon Martin, Miniard Culpepper didn’t want his son going around with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up over his head. “I told him that people need to be able to see who you are,” Culpepper, regional counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, said Friday during a panel discussion of racial profiling conducted during the 2012 Fair Housing and Civil Rights Conference at Western New England University. Culpepper, who is also an ordained minister and part-time pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Dorchester,...

A sea of hooded activists descended on the steps of City Hall Saturday morning to join the 1,000 Hoodies Walk to protest the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman in Central Florida in late February. The shooting has sparked an international furor over racial profiling, catching fire on social networking channels and inspiring protests across the globe. The local event appeared to live up to its billing as nearly 1,000 people of all ages and racial and ethnic backgrounds turned out in Springfield. The crowd convened at City Hall and Court Square before...

The School Committee on Thursday gave first-step approval to a policy that would provide students, ages 12 and older, with access to free condoms, aimed at helping to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy. The committee voted 5-1 in favor of the “Comprehensive Reproductive Health Policy.” The policy, which also includes a provision for counseling for the students, still needs a second vote of approval before it is final. Under the draft policy, parents “will be notified of condom availability in the schools and will have the opportunity to deny permission (opt out) for access to condoms for their...

A Springfield man surrendered to authorities on Monday for his alleged role in an attack on a Catholic Youth Organization basketball coach who lost part of his ear in the assault, according to Springfield police. Timothy L. Forbes, 34, of 62 Catherine St. in the city's McKnight neighborhood, surrendered late Monday morning at the Hampden County Hall of Justice, where he was held without bail after denying multiple charges at his arraignment on Monday afternoon. A judge scheduled a so-called dangerousness hearing for Friday to determine if Forbes poses a public threat if released on bail. If such a determination...

Chicago area has most corruption convictions in nation, UIC study says The Chicago area logged the most public corruption convictions of any federal jurisdiction in the United States during the past 36 years, according to a report released today by the University of Illinois at Chicago. Federal prosecutors secured a total of 1,531 public corruption convictions in the Northern District of Illinois since 1976, said Dick Simpson, head of the university’s political science department. Meanwhile, Illinois logged 1,828 public corruption convictions, the third most of any state, according to the report. Only California and New York had more. But those...

At the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday ceremony Friday at City Hall, the Rev. Talbert W. Swan II offered a brief history lesson for younger members of the audience. The causes championed by King five decades ago are the same ones civil rights activists are campaigning for today, said Swan, the new president of the Springfield’s NAACP chapter. “Jobs and justice,” Swan told the overflow crowd, including students from the city’s Martin Luther King Charter School of Excellence. “Just as in 1963, we find ourselves in the same predicament today, needing jobs and justice,” he said. Five decades after playing...

The Springfield branch of the NAACP has scheduled a public meeting Jan. 4 to discuss a recent comment by Easthampton city councilor Donald L. Cykowski that has been widely criticized as offensive to the Puerto Rican community. Cykowski has since apologized for his statement, which was made at a Dec. 7 council meeting, but calls for further action continue inside and outside Easthampton. Meanwhile, the outgoing president of the Easthampton City Council said he will file a resolution Tuesday reaffirming the council’s commitment to tolerance and against discrimination of any kind. Leaders from the Latino community met Wednesday morning with...

For an half hour Tuesday, Jeremiah Anderson served as one of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno aides, helping him launch the city’s official celebration of Kwanzaa. Jeremiah, 11, of Springfield, was one of several dozen young people attending the City Hall ceremony recognizing Kwanzaa, the seven-day holiday that celebrates African-American community, family and culture. As Sarno stood at the podium, reading a proclamation, Jeremiah stood by his side. At the mayor’s invitation, Jeremiah finished the proclamation, winning applause from the crowd and the mayor. The holiday – which runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 – was first celebrated in 1966...

A local law firm on Tuesday filed a class action suit in Hampden Superior Court against two major cable companies, Charter Communications and Comcast, charging each with “gouging” their customers by not automatically giving credit or refunds for lengthy service outages following the recent snowstorm. Lawyer Jeffrey S. Morneau of the Springfield firm Connor Morneau & Olin, filed two separate class action suits against the area’s two major cable companies. Each suit is filed on behalf of three plaintiffs, but as Morneau pointed out, the action covers “all persons residing in Massachusetts” who are customers of either company and who...

Police handcuffed and removed about 13 protesters from the Bank of America at Monarch Place early Monday afternoon as a crowd of fellow protesters grew outside. The protest started earlier in the day when about 100 people gathered at Morris and Central streets to protest bank foreclosures. The growing group marched downtown to the Bank of America Five of the protesters, already inside the bank as fellow protesters converged outside, sat down at a pre-arranged signal and refused to leave. Others blocked the bank entrances. Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet said about 13 the protesters involved with the sit-in and...

The Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, Springfield branch president of the NAACP, Friday called for an independent investigation of the shooting death of 18-year-old Tahiem Goffe. The teenager died of injuries inflicted by a gunshot wound in the wake of a Nov. 6 confrontation with police, who said Goffe was behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle when he attempted to run down an officer. “The Springfield Branch NAACP is requesting an independent investigation to ensure that proper police procedures were employed and that the investigation will not be compromised,” Swan said Friday. ... Goffe was shot by Springfield police...

Eighteen-year-old Tahiem Goffe, shot by a Springfield police officer early Sunday morning as he allegedly ran down the officer on Taylor Street, died Monday night at Baystate Medical Center, according to police. Police said Goffe deliberately drove at Police Officer Matthew Benoit, who was on foot at the time, striking Benoit and sending him airborne over the front corner of the vehicle and onto the pavement. “The officer was able to fire a round at the oncoming car to possibly save his life,” Sgt. John M. Delaney said. Benoit, who remains on paid administrative leave, was treated at Baystate Medical...

A visibly frustrated Domenic J. Sarno on Tuesday blasted Western Massachusetts Electric Co. for what he called a lackluster effort to restore electricity in the region’s largest city and for projections that could leave several thousands of city residents without electricity or heat for a week or more. Sarno, at a press briefing in City Hall, voiced frustration and anger at the restoration effort since Saturday night, and with the latest WMECO projections that power will not be fully restored in the city until Friday or Saturday. “I’m very frustrated with their performance. This is unacceptable,” Sarno said. “I’m told...