Virgin Mary's image in hospital window

Officials at a Springfield hospital say that they have no immediate plans for replacing a window at a doctors’ office building where some people say they have seen the image of the Virgin Mary.

Thousands of people have flocked to Mercy Medical Center to see the image since a patient first reported seeing it at about 11 a.m. Tuesday, said Mark Fulco, senior vice president for strategy and marketing at the hospital.

Fulco said that the hospital was planning to replace the window, which was originally put in place in the 1970s when the building was built.

Bloomberg could breeze over obstacles to 3rd term

In order to seek a third term, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has to circumvent a term-limits law, convince a previously wary public that such limits are negotiable and then win what could be a three-way race.

But the about-face may not prove as difficult as it sounds for the mayor, who has billions of dollars in the bank and the support of former foes, and could soothe New Yorkers' anxiety about the wavering economy.

"It's going to happen," Baruch College public affairs professor Doug Muzzio said Wednesday about a possible third term for Bloomberg. "He's going to spend whatever it takes to make it happen. ... It's pocket change to him."

Bloomberg was expected to announce his plans Thursday, a day after a person briefed on the matter told The Associated Press that the mayor had decided to abandon his long-standing support for the term-limits law and seek a third consecutive term so he could help the city deal with the crisis on Wall Street. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement hadn't been made.