As the reign of Sal DiMasi as house speaker appears to be in peril, Governor Deval Patrick isn't laughing at his nemesis. He's going out there and reviving the issue of bringing casinos to Massachusetts, which DiMasi squashed so recently. This morning, he brought up the issue again in front of the Brookline Chamber of Commerce. The AP is reporting that "he thinks an unyielding need for property tax relief, the possibility of slot machines......

After all those light-hearted jokes at the St. Patrick's Day breakfast, during which governor Deval Patrick and house speaker Sal DiMasi playfully sparred over the casino issue, Patrick's casino-license proposal got shot down in the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, making Sal DiMasi the winner in this round. A turncoat was in the mix. A state rep from Wrentham, Richard J. Ross, told Patrick he would vote in favor of the casinos,......