Gov. Deval Patrick, who was first briefed on a long-running EBT-abuse investigation only hours before last week’s raids, defended the taxpayer-funded program again yesterday. Questioned about whether last week’s 53 arrests had changed his view of the program’s problems, Patrick responded: “This is a really important program. I think most people know that it provides modest benefits that help people with their housing, their employment, their education needs and obviously when that’s abused, that’s concerning to me, as it is to anyone else.” In recent weeks, Patrick had dismissed the Herald’s coverage of the welfare card issue as “the Herald...