Latest news with #Springfield-based
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
Superior Court judge denies city's request to dismiss portion of police officers wage theft lawsuit
SPRINGFIELD — A Superior Court judge has ruled against the city after denying its request to dismiss a complaint filed by 19 current Westfield Police Department officers alleging they should have been paid 'regular wages' when attending the police academy, according to court documents. 'After a hearing and consideration of the parties' submissions, the court denies defendant's motion to dismiss,' wrote Superior Court Judge Deepika B. Shulka when handing down his decision Wednesday. Last September, Springfield-based attorney Jeffrey Morneau with Connor & Morneau representing the officers of the department filed a lawsuit against the city with three separate complaints. Count I alleged that officers attending the police academy should have been paid the same wages as a regular officer. Count II was that the city didn't pay the officers while they were attending the academy regular wages earned within seven days of the end of the pay period. Essentially, the second complaint is asking the court to find that the officers attending the academy should have been paid at least $21 an hour instead of $19 per hour within seven days of leaving the academy. And in Count III the officers alleged the city was obligated to pay them because 'valuable services were provided to the city' by the officers — it is called a claim for quantum meruit. In the court's decision to dismiss the first complaint of the lawsuit, the judge referred to case law and cited a 2008 decision and that she determined the officers had 'pleaded factual allegations plausibly suggesting (not merely consistent with) an entitlement' for relief. In this case, it would be back pay times three. The city had argued in its request for dismissal that the court shouldn't accept 'legal conclusions cast in the form of factual allegations' and that the officers used the collective bargaining agreement between the city and Westfield Police Officers Coalition as a justification for relief. While the city initially requested the court dismiss the second complaint, during a court hearing between the city and officers, according to the court documents, the officers agreed to seek payment for wages only while they were working in the academy, which was agreed to by the city. 'Therefore, the court leaves Count II undisturbed as pled,' Shulka wrote. For Count III, the city argued in its answer to the original complaint that the officers were bound to the CBA, and they are 'not entitled to recovery … where a valid contract that defines the obligations of the parties.' In the judge's decision, she noted the language of the CBA is 'not as clear as the city suggests.' She said that while the words 'ACADEMY RATE $19.00' does appear in the agreement, there is also language in the agreement that a student officer is a full-time police academy student; they are not covered by the contract.' The court also noted that the agreement between the city and the union specifically excludes student officers among the group of officers for whom 'the Union [is] the sole and exclusive bargaining agent with respect to wages, hours, and other conditions.' The judge wrote that the language of the CBA was 'ambiguous at best as to whether the student officers are bound by the CBA, what rights the student officers had to challenge it, and whether the CBA prescribed an hourly pay rate for student officers.' Based on that, the court also denied the city's request to dismiss Count III. Morneau said Wednesday the next phase of the lawsuit includes the city answering the court's decision, discovery begins, and depositions being taken. Morneau is also seeking the lawsuit be deemed a class action because of the potential the lawsuit will include at least 50 of the department's officers. 'The class allegations are brought on behalf of [the] plaintiff and all other members of the Westfield Police Officers Coalition who worked for [the city] … absent a class action, the class will continue to suffer injury, thereby allowing these alleged violations of law to proceed without remedy and allowing [the city] to retain the proceeds of its ill-gotten gains,' the lawsuit reads. The city of Westfield's Law Department declined to comment on the decision. Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ozarks Tech approves 3% pay increase for employees to stay competitive
The governing body of Ozarks Technical Community College approved a 3% pay increase for all full-time, part-time and adjunct instructors. The May 14 vote by the Board of Trustees will apply to anyone employed in their respective positions on or before March 31 of this year. "It's really heartening to be able to do this in light of some other institutions that are not giving raises this year or are very, very small," Ozarks Tech Chancellor Hal Higdon said in the meeting. "We've really tried to stay competitive in our local market." Higdon said Ozarks Tech must compete against Springfield Public Schools and Missouri State University, especially to fill staff positions. "This will allow us to either keep up with one or pass the other," he said. The Springfield-based institution streamlined its salary schedule this year and set aside funds to make targeted market adjustment for key positions, Higdon said. More: Ozarks Tech taps graduate, health sciences dean as its next provost According to the college, salary increases for individuals in externally funded positions — including roles paid for with grants — will be contingent on available funding and approval by the funding entity. The pay increase starts July 1. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Ozarks Tech increasing pay for employees to stay competitive
Forbes
30-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Forbes Richest Person In Every State 2025
For the third straight year, Forbes has scoured the nation to find the richest person in every state. We again found billionaires in all but three. The 54 entrepreneurs, investors and heirs on the 2025 ranking (including ties) are worth a record $2 trillion combined, up $400 billion since last year's list. Five states have a new no. 1—all because one rich resident has overtaken another, rather than the high-profile, out-of-state moves that have shaken things up in past years. Among the states whose wealthiest person changed in 2025 is Missouri, where the richest Black American, IT mogul David Steward (estimated net worth: $11.4 billion) of St. Louis-based World Wide Technology, has surpassed John Morris ($9.6 billion) of Springfield-based Bass Pro Shops. Meanwhile, in neighboring Arkansas, Bentonville-based Walmart heir Rob Walton ($113 billion) takes the title from his brother Jim Walton ($112 billion). The world's wealthiest woman, their sister Alice Walton ($104 billion), remains a distant second in Texas, behind the world's wealthiest person, Elon Musk ($388 billion), who moved to the Lone Star State from California in 2020. Across the country in Washington, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer ($118 billion) beats out his old boss Bill Gates ($108 billion), after Forbes upped its estimate of the 2021 divorce settlement secured by Gates' ex-wife Melinda French Gates ($30.2 billion). French Gates now ranks as the third richest person in the Evergreen State, one spot ahead of MacKenzie Scott ($26.7 billion), whose ex-husband Jeff Bezos ($206 billion) of Amazon has been Florida's wealthiest resident since announcing his move from Washington to Miami in 2023. In Wisconsin, Diane Hendricks ($21.9 billion) is one of 10 women who are the richest residents of their respective states, up from nine last year. The Republican megadonor and cofounder of Beloit-based roofing giant ABC Supply, overtakes John Menard, Jr. ($21.5 billion), who founded the Eau Claire-based home improvement chain Menard's. And then there's New Jersey, where hedge fund tycoon John Overdeck ($7.4 billion) reclaims his state's top spot from cable TV mogul Rocco Commisso ($5.8 billion), an Italian immigrant who moved with his family to New York City at age 12 in 1962. While at least one of America's 868 billionaires can be found in almost every state, nearly two-thirds of them live in just four: California (194), New York (137), Florida (116) and Texas (81), where the competition for the top spot is particularly tough. That's especially true in the Golden State, which is home to four of the seven richest Americans, including Oracle's Larry Ellison ($175 billion) and Alphabet's Larry Page ($135 billion) and Sergey Brin ($129 billion), who are all too poor to make this year's list, given Palo Alto resident Mark Zuckerberg's $189 billion fortune. In contrast, 10 states have just one billionaire: Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Vermont. Alaska, Delaware and West Virginia are still the only states without a billionaire, though Brad Smith, the retired CEO of Intuit and current president of Marshall University, is knocking on the door in the Mountain State, with an estimated $900 million net worth. Smith has been West Virginia's richest person since the 2023 ranking, when he overtook the state's former billionaire governor and current U.S. senator Jim Justice, who Forbes now estimates is broke and buried under more than $1 billion of debt and other liabilities. Forbes Richest Person In Every State 2025
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump administration rescinds grant to address asthma in Western Massachusetts
SPRINGFIELD — A $1 million federal grant funding efforts to decrease asthma in Western Massachusetts has been terminated, Governor Maura Healey's office announced on Friday. The grant from the Environmental Protection Agency went to the state Department of Public Health, which was working with Springfield-based Revitalize Community Development Corporation. About $900,000 was left to be spent, Healey's office said, and it was intended to go towards improving ventilation and removing mold in homes in Chicopee, Holyoke and Springfield. 'It's devastating,' said Colleen Shanley-Loveless, president and CEO of Revitalize Community Development Corporation, which got some of that grant funding to support a program that remediates people's homes to address asthma risks and triggers. Springfield ranked fourth in the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America's Asthma Capitals 2024 list, which takes into account asthma prevalence and emergency room visits and fatalities. The city was ranked number one on the list in 2019. 'The need is overwhelming,' Shanley-Loveless said. 'It's very frustrating and it's very devastating for the people we're trying to work with.' A spokesperson for Healey's office said the EPA told the state that the grant was being terminated 'on the grounds that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities. The objectives of the award are no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities.' When asked for comment, an EPA spokesperson said in a statement: 'Maybe the Biden-Harris Administration shouldn't have forced their radical agenda of wasteful DEI programs and preferencing on the EPA's core mission of protecting human health and the environment. Partisan actors can spin this grant cancellation in any which way they choose, this is an 'environmental and climate justice' grant, not about asthma.' Revitalize Community Development Corporation was subcontracted by the state to work on a three-year program that had already started and expanded the in-home remediation work it does, Shanley-Loveless said. Under the grant, the group sent specialists into homes to assess how they can be remediated to be healthier. They coordinate with contractors on tasks like mold remediation, vent cleaning, and replacing carpets, which can accumulate dust and trigger asthma, Shanley-Loveless said. 'With this funding, we were able to help those that might fall through the cracks that would be in need of these services,' she said. Shanley-Loveless hopes the federal government will reconsider the decision so her group can 'get back to doing the work we do best.' The decision is 'misguided,' said Dr. Robbie Goldstein, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. 'We have used these grants to address the root causes of asthma in communities that have been historically underserved — places where too many children struggle to breathe because of preventable environmental conditions. Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia, Chicopee Mayor John Vieau, and Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno all expressed their frustration the grant cancellation in statements Friday. 'I know firsthand, for my youngest daughter Chiara has had to deal with a serious case of asthma,' Sarno said in a statement. Sarno made an appeal to President Donald Trump. 'Mr. President, many people who voted for and supported you and/or their family members and friends are afflicted with asthma and now you turn your back on them?! In the name of public health, I ask President Trump to review and reverse this edict.' The state Department of Public Health submitted a 'formal dispute' over the EPA's cancellation, according to the governor's office. Federal judge throws out claim against treasurer's office related to unclaimed property Man convicted in 2011 Hells Angel Berkshire triple murder denied habeas corpus appeal BJ's, Target to be included in former Eastfield Mall replacement, report says
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
James River Church leaves Assemblies of God
OZARK, MO – The largest Assemblies of God church in Missouri has severed formal ties with its denomination. On Wednesday evening, James River Church announced that its Board of Trustees had decided to leave the Springfield-based Assemblies of God organization. In a media statement, the church explained, 'We are thankful for the Assemblies of God, and we intend to continue partnering with the Assemblies of God in a variety of ways – including our continued support of missionaries and missions efforts to take the Gospel around the world. In addition, the announcement stated, 'James River Church is not changing its doctrine, and the church remains committed to preaching the Bible and impacting the local community and the world for the cause of Christ.' The release did not provide a reason for the church breaking ties with the Assemblies of God. James River Church was founded in 1991 as James River Assembly of God. The church quickly outgrew its original home in a south Springfield shopping center and moved into a new campus on S. Southwood Avenue. The congregation then built and moved into a new multi-million dollar facility in north Ozark. The church, which has grown to become one of the largest churches in the country, has expanded to include several satellite campuses in the Springfield area and one in Joplin. According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, nearly 9,000 people attend the Ozark campus alone each week, making it the largest congregation in the state. Several years ago, James River dropped the 'Assembly' from its name and replaced it with 'Church.' The move was in line with the trend of many congregations dropping denominational names in hopes of appealing to the public. Despite the change, James River retained its full affiliation with the Assemblies. This is a developing story. Ozarks First will update this story when additional details become available. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
