• $120 million deal made for business
WEST SPRINGFIELD - A New Jersey corporation has agreed to buy Cyalume Light Technologies Inc. for $120 million.

• 2 sought in home invasion
SPRINGFIELD - Police are searching for two suspects who invaded a man's home on St. James Boulevard yesterday morning, pistol-whipped him and stole cash.

• Acclaimed novelist from area dies at 73
Raymond Kennedy set some of his novels in "Ireland Parish," a fictional recreation of Holyoke.

• Chicopee gets mitigation sum
CHICOPEE - The state handed the city a $960,000 check yesterday that represents mitigation costs associated with locating the $26.1 million Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center here.

• Deerfield recalls 1704 massacre
DEERFIELD - Bells tolled 82 times here yesterday for the number of people who died as the result of a raid here in 1704, during the French and Indian Wars.

• Energy prices hit area seniors
With the price of oil briefly topping $100 a barrel yesterday, and no relief in sight, the cost of gasoline and heating oil continues to take a toll on people, particularly senior citizens.

• Interest shown in school race
GREENFIELD - The first potential candidates for a seat on the School Committee surfaced this week, but one of them said last night he has decided not to run.

• Jury declares man innocent
SPRINGFIELD - Four years and five months after 23-year-old O'Brian Hall was fatally shot on Bay Street, a city man has been found innocent of murder.

• Lawyer facing charges
SPRINGFIELD - A city lawyer has been indicted for larceny and uttering.

• Museum president honored
jo-ann.moriarty @newhouse.comWASHINGTON - Massachusetts lawmakers who have often witnessed history in the making this week honored a man whose job it is to preserve a living snapshot of New England life in the 1830s at Old Sturbridge Village.

• New twins face long wait for birthdays
SPRINGFIELD - Born early yesterday morning, twins Samuel Isaac and Maxwell Gideon Cashman will always have an entertaining story to tell on their birthday.

• New ways studied to assist homeless
HOLYOKE - It was a message stated repeatedly yesterday at the Homelessness Summit here highlighted by the visit of President Bush's homelessness czar Philip F. Mangano.

• Permit sought for condos
AMHERST - The developer of a South East Street project has obtained permission to build 10 single-family homes, but is still pursuing a permit to build 17 condominiums.

• School leaders brace for cuts
NORTHAMPTON - Faced with a budget shortfall of more than $1 million, the School Department is looking at a wide range of cost-cutting measures for fiscal 2009.

• Speaker rejects 'casino culture'
House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi stepped up his criticism of expanded gambling yesterday, telling business leaders in Western Massachusetts that casinos would do little to attract visitors and could alter the way of life in the state.

• Springfield, Comcast argue costs
SPRINGFIELD - The city has accused Comcast Cable of passing on costs to subscribers not allowed under contract, with the company denying the claims and saying it remains in full compliance.