by Stephanie Barry | Dec 26, 2011 | News
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) The second of three city men termed “shiftless and pathetic” by a judge was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for burning a local black church to the ground in the predawn hours after President Barack Obama was elected. Michael F. Jacques...
by Stephanie Barry | Feb 7, 2011 | News
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) A defendant accused in a racially motivated arson on Thursday (Feb. 3) took the witness stand and told a federal judge he had no role in the 2008 blaze that razed a predominantly black church hours after President Obama was elected. Michael F....
by Stephanie Barry and The Republican | Jan 10, 2011 | News
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) A federal judge ruled that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield must bow to the altar of historic preservation in a dispute over who controls the fate of shuttered church buildings. The diocese sued the city in federal court after the...
by Stephanie Barry and The Republican | Aug 20, 2010 | News
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) The Rev. Hillary Chrisley has traveled throughout the deep South, helping to rebuild churches torched by arson, but traveling to the heart of New England was an anomaly for the pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Santa Barbara,...