Results tagged “massachusetts”

A $600 million budget gap could lead to trimming 2,000 state jobs, not to mention other cost-cutting measures. [Boston Globe]...The Mass. unemployment rate jumped to 9.2% in September, which might mean the Bay State is still in a recession. [Boston Herald]...Potential amendments to the state's transportation reform bill could eliminate some of the saving that was the purpose of the reforms. [Boston Herald]

The Commonwealth got its first shipment of H1N1 vaccine yesterday, according to this blog post. That's ahead of schedule, according to the state. Don't run out all at once to get your shots, though:

MassBike, the group that fought to pass the new bike law, has a survey on its Web site for bicyclists and motorists alike. Answering the questions won't win you anything, but it might help the group to shape its future advocacy. (Here's a hint: If you want to do well on the survey, brush up on your knowledge of Mass bike law. [Via Mass. Transportation Blog]

Reading today's Globe story on Menino's bike share proposals, we were intrigued to learn about a new bike safety law that includes a fine for hitting passing cyclists with the door of your car. Turns out, the law's actually not that new. The Bicyclist Safety Bill became law in January, but nobody seems to have heard of it. Among other things, the law gives cyclists the right to ride two abreast—previously illegal—and increases penalties for drivers who cut off cyclists or force them to the curb. MassBike has a good rundown of the changes the law has instituted. The full text can be found here.

The AP reports that Massachusetts filed suit in federal court over the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman and limits the rights of same sex married couples. The first state to legalize gay marriage, and the cornerstone of a five-state New England bloc of marriage equality, the Commonwealth argues that DOMA "constitutes an overreaching and discriminatory federal law." President Obama pledged during his campaign to repeal the law, and there's no word on his administration's reaction to the lawsuit.

The city of Boston and the men who fill the ranks of the Boston Fire Department simply can't get along. Contract disputes have long since gone nuclear and now any controversy turns into a five-alarm blaze of rhetoric and posturing perfectly designed for the city's competitive media outlets.

• Massachusetts has the second-lowest obesity rate in the nation at 21.2%, which still seems too high. [WCVB]

• Boston firefighters are defying Boston Fire Department orders to volunteer to staff three stations. [Boston Herald]

We, like the majority of Massachusetts residents, support universal health care in the Commonwealth, but the current system is badly flawed. And we need to figure out a way to fix it without screwing our most financially vulnerable neighbors.

The Globe's off-lead today was the story of Massachusetts's newfound arsenal, courtesy of a US military program that delivers surplus weapons to police departments throughout the nation. You have to read nearly half the article to get to the first mention of alleged violations of federal regulations, but the most frightening fact comes in the first paragraph anyway. West Springfield has two grenade launchers? For what? Fending off the marauding hordes of Chicopee? I guess we should count our blessings. The MBTA only got machine guns.

--"Clark Rockefeller" was sentenced to 4-5 years in prison just two hours after his conviction on kidnapping and assault charges. Judge Frank Gaziano's sentence matched what prosecutors recommended. [Globe]

The Boston Business Journal has alerted us to the existence of Replikins, a local biotech company claiming to have a swine flu vaccine ready for testing. The synthetic peptide H1N1 vaccine was created using sub-sequences of the virus and modern peptide synthesis techniques. CDC spokesman Tom Skinner told the BBJ, “We should know by the end of May which institution has the most success growing a seed virus.” Testing would take time, and a vaccine would probably not be available before fall. Replikins' vaccine is not currently undergoing testing. There have been 115 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus in Massachusetts thus far.

    

The State House snazzes up for the Celtics' and Bruins' playoff runs.

In part due to gas tax anger and folks bristling over his appointments of personal friends like Marian Walsh, Deval Patrick's approval ratings are heading to the toilet. If a gubernatorial (love that word!) election were held today, 35% would vote for Tim Cahill (though the state treasurer hasn't even officially declared a campaign) and 30% for Patrick. These numbers are from a poll conducted by Suffolk University, which also found that 47% of respondents felt it was time for a glowing new governor. Patrick's approval is pretty split, with 43% assessing him unfavorably and 44% favorably. The Phoenix is mostly okay with Patrick's policy, but criticizes his political skills (or lack thereof), particularly his willingness to snub the media.

Those 14 percent T raises be damned—teachers are what's costing us money! And at least 400 of them may have to be fired to make room for budget cuts. (Compare that with the 400+ T workers who earned over $100,000 last year—we're betting that most teacher salaries are not quite at six figures.) 500 other jobs need to be eliminated in the process of whittling our education budget down by 5.5%. The transportation budget is cited as a big portion of costs. We say make those kids walk to school—we did it uphill both ways in the snow back in the day. If you've got a problem with the budget cuts, there's a budget hearing tonight at Blackstone Elementary School, and several others coming up as well. To prepare, you can read the superintendent's budget proposal (Word doc).

As surveys have it, Massachusetts is the third least religious state, behind just Vermont and New Hampshire in the heathen countdown. Maine rounds out the total of only four states in the U.S. where people don't say religion is an important part of their daily lives. The results were somewhat surprising to us, but maybe they're not counting sports as a religion in this survey. Not so surprisingly, a bunch of Southern states were the most religious.