Free Republic

The US Attorney's office in Boston yesterday brought a raft of criminal charges against the Big Dig's largest contractor, saying it knew that bolts were coming loose in the ceiling of the Interstate 90 tunnel but glossed over the problem until panels came crashing down in 2006, killing motorist Milena Del Valle. The government also accused the company, Modern Continental Corp., of systematically cheating on the bills for labor and materials it submitted. And it said a water-gushing wall breach in 2004 was a result of shoddy concrete workmanship, which it said Modern Continental knew about but ignored. Prosecutors said...

BOSTON-A killer who sued to have a sex change claims her body is becoming more masculine again because she's being denied treatment in prison as she awaits a ruling in her bid for the surgery. Michelle Kosilek, formerly known as Robert, said that for months she has not been allowed to have court-approved hair-removal treatment or access to a specialist to discuss her testosterone levels. "My breasts have shrunk, genitals have regained previous size and function, facial hair is thicker and scalp hair is thinner, all related to an elevated testosterone level," Kosilek said in a handwritten letter submitted to...

NH Newspaper Calls Romney "A Phony" Dec 23 12:47 PM US/Eastern By GLEN JOHNSON Associated Press Writer MILFORD, N.H. (AP) - The Concord Monitor broke with political tradition Sunday, telling readers in the state with the first presidential primary why they should not vote for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney instead of whom they should support. In a scathing anti-endorsement that called Romney a "disquieting figure," the New Hampshire newspaper's editorial board said he looks and acts like a presidential contender but "surely must be stopped" because he lacks the core philosophical beliefs to be a trustworthy president. In particular,...

Levies increase despite decline in home values. Residential property taxes rose an average of $161 in cities and towns across the state in the past fiscal year, as home assessments hit historic highs despite declining market values. The average property tax bill for a single-family home hit $3,962, up 4.2 percent from the previous year. Taxes climbed 7 percent or higher in more than 65 communities, according to data from the state Department of Revenue. Since 2000, property taxes have shot up nearly 50 percent, from $2,679, far outpacing gains in wages, which climbed 30 percent statewide over the same...

Governor Deval Patrick plans to unveil a proposal today to make Massachusetts' community colleges, among the priciest in the nation, free to all high school graduates in the state by the year 2015, according to documents obtained by the Globe. The proposal is the centerpiece of Patrick's vision for a "cradle to career" education system that would dramatically expand the concept of public education in Massachusetts. The plan, which he will outline during commencement at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, would also provide preschool for all children, extend the school day and year, and guarantee two years of community...

Taxpayers who have already suffered through waste, fraud, delays and even a tragic accident from the budget-busting Big Dig are now getting a new kick in the pants: a bill as high as $333 million that has even Gov. Deval Patrick "fed up." In financial documents to be released today, the Patrick administration will formally disclose that costs have ballooned to at least $14.798 billion and may increase by another $160 million, pending the outcome of negotiations with contractors, sources confirmed. The cost correction comes as Patrick tries to exert more control over the project and the Turnpike Authority, whose...

SPENCER, Mass. (AP) -- Dozens of residents were taken to hospitals Wednesday with burns or rashes after the town's water supply was accidentally treated with too much corrosive lye, officials said. People in Spencer were advised not to use or touch the water until further notice, said Ed Coletta, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. Residents started complaining of skin irritation and moderate burns after showering early Wednesday, police Sgt. John Agnew said. He said officials determined that a malfunction at the town's water treatment plant had released too much sodium hydroxide into the water supply. Sodium...

Remember the public debate last year over whether the state should raise the gasoline tax or tolls to pay for the rotten roads around here? Well, the debate’s over. There’s been a compromise. We’re going to raise both the tolls and the gasoline tax. Or so says the Mass. Transportation Finance Commission. They haven’t officially come out and said they want higher gas taxes and tolls. First they’re going to have the traditional “public hearings.” Of course it’s all a complete bag job. Just look at the tell-tale phrases in the news stories about the “shocking” conditions of the state’s...

Governor Mitt Romney Announces Support of Former Speaker Dennis Hastert Tuesday, Jan 23, 2007 Boston, MA - Today, Governor Mitt Romney announced that former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) will be joining the Romney for President Exploratory Committee. "I am honored to have the support of Speaker Hastert. As a leader in our Party and former Speaker, his long and continued career of service has been marked by a deep commitment to improving the lives of the American people. Under his leadership, Congress passed the most significant tax relief in a generation, and in...

BOSTON - A Massachusetts lawmaker is trying to get himself out of a sticky situation by dropping his opposition to Marshmallow Fluff. An amendment proposed by Sen. Jarrett Barrios to limit the availability of Fluff in schools sparked impassioned defense of the marshmallow spread, a lunch box staple of children for generations. The proposal was panned on talk radio, and another lawmaker even suggested legislation to make the Fluffernutter — a Fluff and peanut butter sandwich — the official state sandwich. Colin Durrant, spokesman for Barrios, D-Cambridge, said Barrios was abandoning the proposed amendment to the school nutrition bill. Barrios...

In the past five years almost a quarter of a million people have fled Massachusetts for greener pastures. This week the candidates for governor offered their solutions for staunching the flow and, if possible, luring some ex-pats back. What does Democrat Chris Gabrieli propose? Why, invest $1 billion of taxpayer money in embryonic stem cell research, of course. ...Democrat Deval Patrick wants to hike the minimum wage by $2 an hour and build high-speed commuter rail between Boston and satellite communities Worcester and New Bedford. Yes, Bay Staters are fleeing to Tennessee and Texas because Massachusetts doesn't have enough high-speed...

Salvatore Dimassi Mass State Representativ (D) Speaker of the House. This was a ll a scam to get federal matching dollars! On C-span now. Basically this is one big socialitst exposure festival. These people are crazy!

In an eagerly awaited landmark decision, the state's highest court ruled today that Governor Mitt Romney and Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly had the authority to invoke a 1913 state law that Massachusetts used to block out-of-state gay couples from marrying here when same-sex marriage became legal in 2004. The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the 1913 law when it was used to block same sex-couples from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, because gay marriage is prohibited in those states. The court, however, did not rule on the claims of the couples from New York and Rhode Island because state...

From 2000 through 2004, a net 1.3 million people moved out of states with taxes on ordinary income and into those without such taxes... Quietly, without banners or raised fists, they are packing up their families and belongings and moving from high-tax states like California and New York to lower-tax locales like Florida, Nevada and Texas. While climate clearly has played a role in the moves -- fed up with giving an ever-growing share of their riches to the state tax man. Many are upset at moves by New York, New Jersey and a number of other states to squeeze...

Marie St. Fleur was a candidate for lieutenant governor for less than 24 hours before she had to drop out over unpaid taxes...leaving voters to ask how a key player in crafting the state budget could make such a mess of her own checkbook. It is a question Massachusetts voters have asked themselves before. Massachusetts, dubbed "Taxachusetts" years ago for its tax-happy ways, seems to churn out scofflaw lawmakers unable or unwilling to pay their own taxes on time. It did not take long for another candidate to reveal that he, too, has had tax problems. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval...

Ever since reporters took up Gary Hart's challenge to put a tail on him, then sunk his 1988 presidential candidacy with details of a tryst with an attractive model, the private sex lives of prominent politicians have been considered fair game for the press. The journalistic rationale is that character counts and voters have a right to know about questionable personal conduct because it may tell something about how an individual will perform in office or serve the public interest without fear or favor. Yet most mainstream news outlets continue to grant a reasonable right of privacy to public officials,...

Sellers chop asking prices as housing market slows Cuts of up to 20% are now common as analysts see signs of a 'hard landing' Boston-area homeowners trying to sell their houses are sharply reducing asking prices -- in some cases, by $100,000 or more -- in response to the sudden slowdown in the real estate market. ... The median price of a single-family home in Massachusetts has dropped 7 percent in the past two months, to $349,000 for sales that closed in October. But reductions in asking prices of 10 percent or 20 percent are now common in both high...

Mass. bill endangers OpenDocument decision By Martin LaMonica Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: November 3, 2005, 7:54 AM PST The Massachusetts Senate has introduced a provision to an economic stimulus bill that endangers a state decision to standardize on the OpenDocument format. An amendment to Senate bill 2256, published on Wednesday, proposes the creation of a four-person information technology task force to approve technical standards in the state. The Senate is scheduled on Thursday to discuss the bill, known as the Commonwealth Investment Act. The introduction of the amendment follows a hearing on Monday during which the chair of a...

Factors associated with towns' and individuals' support in Massachusetts.Vice President and Fellow from Abt Associates Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Hamilton) Senior Research Fellow, Center for Survey Research, University of Massachusetts at Boston. (Biener) Analyst at Abt Associates Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Rodger). OBJECTIVES: The authors examined factors related to public support for cigarette taxes: smoking behavior, attitudes about other tobacco control policies, and sociodemographic factors. METHODS: The authors regressed referendum voting outcomes on sociodemographic characteristics of Massachusetts' 351 towns. Logistic regressions on the surveys of Massachusetts adults (N = 14,000+) showed support for hypothetical tax increases to be related to respondents' smoking...

It'll never happen, but at some point over the next 48 hours or so, President Bush [related, bio] really ought to publicly acknowledge and thank the one group most responsible for making the Bush dynasty possible. Namely, the Massachusetts Democratic Party. Let's face it, without Michael Dukakis and John Kerry [related, bio], there wouldn't have been one, let alone three, Bush administrations. These two ACLU crybabies from the Bay State go down in history as the Laurel and Hardy of American politics, human sacrifices who to this day can't figure out why Americans didn't want to vote for Ivy League...