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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....