Massachusetts forced everyone to have health insurance. Now it takes longer to see a doctor, and there are fewer practices accepting new patients. Ah, success. [Boston Globe] Microsoft opened a new research facility in Cambridge. Perhaps they'll eventually get "Obama" into Word's spell-check. [Mass High Tech] The Department of Homeland Security has nixed MBTA plans to expand chemical attack sensors because the existing system is effective enough for them. [Boston Globe] As usual, people......

The Globe reports on Massachusetts joining the medical revolution with the opening of a CVS in-store clinic in Medway. Nurse practitioners are on hand at these clinics to give vaccinations and treat "minor acute illnesses." As people rush to get flu shots this fall, the clinics will also be able to help. It's $59 a visit, which is more than a copay but less than a real doctor bill, and you don't have to make......

[Yummy muffins photographed by hmmlargeart] Whole Foods makes you poor and fat with its expensive salad bar's giant containers. [Consumerist] Gustav visits Haiti. [CNN] Shockingly enough, requiring people to have health insurance increases the number of people who have health insurance. [Globe] Ad revenue for the NYT's New England Media Group (which includes the Globe) dropped almost 25% in one year. [Phoenix Mitt's in CO; no VP news. [Herald] Though their predecessors had to......

The adult smoking rate among adults in Massachusetts decreased 8% in 2007 from its 2006 rate. 16.4% of Mass. adults smoked in 2007, compared to 27.8% in 1986. Studies suggest that health concerns and mandatory health insurance (including state-funded help with quitting) were the largest factors in effecting the decrease. Smoking rates also decreased among teens, from 20.5% in 2006 to 17.7% in 2007. Congrats to those who've succeeded in quitting.......

--Only five percent of the commonwealth's taxpayers went uninsured after the new law requiring health insurance went into effect. [WBZ] --William Bulger, former UMass president and brother of Whitey, is back in the news. Bulger's former law partner has been disbarred for encouraging clients to lie about Whitey's whereabouts. William Bulger was investigated but was not charged for the same offense. [Boston Globe] --Surviving Grady has another reason to freak out with the news......

There are lot of things to dislike about the waiting room at your doctor's office—germy fellow patients, antiquated reading material, a complete lack of shampoo and energy drinks for sale. CVS will be able to rectify at least the last issue after regulations approved yesterday by the state's Public Health Council will allow the corporation to place small medical centers within its stores. The regulations will also open the door to companies like Wal-Mart who......