Bay Staters get an extra day to file taxes due to Patriot's Day. Governor Deval Patrick supported President Obama's deficit reduction plan on ABC's "This week" Sunday. He said his plan is realy about the country's values. Remember to follow Bostonist on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
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The City of Boston is seeing some success with a program to prevent college students from dropping out. [Boston Globe]
If campus police don't ask permission to search your BC dorm, then they can't legally find your drug stash. [WBUR]
Before the Harvard-Yale game, a Crimson comedy team joked about the Yalie who was murdered last year. [New Haven Register]
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The T station at Government Center will be getting a makeover that's scheduled to be completed in 2015. (And Bostonist can't help singing Jonathan Richman.) [Boston Herald]
The State Street T station is almost complete -- only four years behind schedule. [Boston Globe]
After 40 years of music, Harpers Ferry is expected to close at the end of the month. [Boston Herald]
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Many Bay State incumbents will run unopposed in upcoming elections. [Boston Herald]
Vicki Kennedy probably won't run for Senate. [The Hill]
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette has introduced a paywall on its website. (Is Boston.com next?) [WBUR]
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MIT is opening a solar technology lab, which is mainly funded by an Italian energy company. [Boston Globe]
Thanks to its bankruptcy, a cache of historic Polaroid items is going to MIT. [CNet]
Former Harvard Law dean, Elena Kagan, has been nominated to be the newest Supreme Court justice. [Washington Post]
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There will be about 4% less people do a price check at Shaw's. [Boston Globe]
Some Mass mortgageholders will get some relief from a-holes formerly known as Countrywide. [Worcester Telegram]
Not a good week for the Cahill campaign: A company that held a fundraiser on his behalf had a conflict of interest and was fined by the SEC. [Boston Herald]
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Brookline is considering a change in public parking rates to hit Sox fans on game days. [NESN]
Former Yankees tenor is moving to Boston after allegations of anti-Semitism soured his singing career. [NY Times]
The giant Celtics banner across from the Garden should've legally been removed years ago. [Boston Channel]
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Life is good for gold medalist Hannah Kearney. On top of a Fenway invitation to throw out a first pitch, she's probably getting a Ben & Jerry's flavor named after her. [Business Week]
Congrats to snowboarder Scotty Lago for grabbing a bronze medal for the Granite State. [Seacoast Online]
Ostensibly Scott Brown's kids are celebrating the election by selling crap to fill his campaign coffers. [Fox News]
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Guess who Ted Kennedy's widow has endorsed for her husband's former seat. [Boston Globe]
If we can't have Cape wind power, a turbine is planned for Western Mass along the Pike. [Boston Herald]
That extra money you've been paying at the packie is really helping the Commonwealth. [Boston Business Journal]
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After winning a $675k judgement against a BU grad student, they're attacking him for stuff happening in Sweden. [Ars Technica]
Green Line trains don't need texting conductors to derail at Government Center. [Boston Herald]
Gloucester's water system hasn't been safe to use for weeks. [Gloucester Daily Times]
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Today is the last day for towns to opt for higher meal taxes. About 7% of towns have already approved the increase including Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline. [WHDH]
Connecticut man tries to sell trade his parents on Craigslist. [WVIT-TV]
Meat is no longer served at Julia Child's former Cambridge home. [Boston Globe]
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Results tagged “taxes”
The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination said a man with HIV/AIDS should be able to keep his emotional support dog after his landlord said hemust get rid of it. Three Boston scientists will get $750,000 each over three years in grants for cancer research. Remember to follow Bostonist on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Cardinal Sean O'Malley instructed Boston's Catholic churches to hold special collections for the people of Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. Turnout was low for the Boston City Council District 7 special election. Remember to follow Bostonist on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
A homeless man stabbed an employee of the Lowell Transitional Living Center to death on Saturday. Pericles Clergeau allegedly stabbed Jose Rafael Roldan after Roldan tried to calm Clergeau down. A week ago, a group home worker was killed by a resident. [Herald]
We aren't sure if any voters found what they were looking for in last night's debate. Unless you were looking for insults and mudslinging, and then you were in luck.
- Why did two homeowners decide to paint their home in old Chatham Village lime green and yellow? [WBZ]
- President Obama’s aunt was granted asylum in May. The text of the decision was released Monday, and her case being leaked to the media had a lot to do with the ruling. [Boston Globe]
When Bostonist heard about Senator John Kerry's tax flap with his yacht, we laughed. Who didn't?
Senator John Kerry won't be getting a tax break from his new $7 million yacht, unless he deserves one. Kerry planned to stash Isabel in Rhode Island, a state with no sales and excise taxes since 1993, and cited "long-term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes" as the reason to do so. Tonight, the Globe reports Kerry said he'll pay all taxes he owes to Massachusetts. We need a press statement for this? Apparently. We are thrilled that Kerry will do what we all have to do. It's hard to imagine he, or someone else he pays, didn't know the applicable tax rules in this case. [Globe]
Yesterday, Sarah Palin gave a Tea Party on Boston Common to protest taxes, and it proceeded in fairly predictable fashion. According to reports, Palin rehashed lines like "We'll keep clinging to our Constitution and our guns and religion - and you can keep the change" and "Let's drill, baby, drill" for an excited audience of astonishingly ignorant people. One infiltrator asserts that "They played taps and I had to tell people to take their hats off," and goes on to provide our favorite excerpt from the protest:
- A mother of 9 says she was sterilized against her will after her most recent delivery. Now, she claims she is getting "nasty" text messages and Facebook comments for being on public assistance. [Boston Herald]
- Gov. Deval Patrick said he "anticipates" no new tax increases coming up to address the states fiscal problems. [WCVB]
- At noon today, Bridgewater posted the names of more than 80 taxpayers owe $1.6 million in back taxes on the town's Web site. [WBZ]
Mayor Thomas Menino announced today that the City of Boston will be raising local hotel and meals taxes at the beginning of October. The move, which was authorized by the recent state budget, will increase Boston's hotel tax from 12.45% to 14.45% and the meals tax from 6.25% to 7%. Menino expects the increases to net $18 million during the next fiscal year. According to city figures, the rates are still lower than other major cities. New York, for example, levies a 14.75% hotel tax and a 8.38% meals tax.
New Hampshire might lay off 750 workers after Labor Day, reports WBZ. The Live Free or Die State, which doesn't levy a sales or individual income tax, is in a budgetary crisis, and the word of the layoffs comes after a disagreement between the State Employees Association and Governor John Lynch over unpaid furloughs. [reports WBZ}
So, hundreds of Pike employees and retirees get free Fast Lane transponders. Bostonist wants one. State cops rightly get most of the "nonrevenue transponders," as they are called. According to the Herald, 849 of 1,300 Pike salary-takers also get the coveted freebies. Not a typo. Aside from being an extravagant perk, as taxes surge and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority is eliminated, could excessive transponder use cause tollbooth backups?
We’ve been living a carefree, tax-free lifestyle in the world of liquor for a while now. That all could change soon. Lawmakers finalizing the 2010 budget are proposing a hefty tax on alcohol. They have raised the general sales tax from 5% to 6.25% and are now applying that to the sale of all beer, wine, and alcohol sold in stores.
Governor Deval Patrick took the legislature's slogan, "Reform Before Revenue," and flipped it when he threatened to veto any legislation that incorporated Speaker Robert DeLeo's proposed 25% sales tax hike. The tax, which would provide $275 million additional revenue for transportation agencies, was proposed in response to Patrick's request for a 19% gas tax hike and significant reforms in transportation agencies. Patrick's tax would have provided twice as much revenue for the agencies. In his letter to the legislature, Patrick claimed that DeLeo's tax plan was unfocused and accused both the House and the Senate of neglecting to enact crucial ethics and pension reforms that Patrick thinks are the prerequisite for any tax increase. [Globe]
In a rare show of decency, the IRS will—get this—ever so kindly allow Madoff and other Ponzi victims to not pay taxes on money they didn't earn! The IRS is considering issuing refunds to people who paid taxes on money that Madoff claimed to have made for them, but which was really just holding in his giant temple of devastation. Say, can we get refunds on taxes we paid on investments that declined massively in value? Probably not! One can't expect too much from the IRS. [AP via Globe]
