Massachusetts

This is very important for everyone to know. The Herald's kamikaze front-page editors think this is SHOCKING.

Yes, yes, Diane Patrick has a big, important job for a ginormous law firm. Ginormous law firms like Ropes and Gray, Hale and Dorr Wilmer-Cutler-Groucho-Harpo-Zeppo, and so forth have many and varied clients, with a variety of interests before the state — as do all of us. Sometimes they'll work on the side of the angels … sometimes not. That's the law biz.

But let's look at the facts: The governor opposed a law that would have trebled damages for an employer that loses a wage dispute with an employee.

(Read the full post about ‘The Governor’s wife has a job.’…)

(UPDATE: Just drink in the irony of this headline from MSNBC:

McCain says Obama insensitive to the poor
GOP presidential hopeful derides Democrat for opposing ‘gas-tax holiday’

McCain, re-married to a beer heiress, is criticizing Obama, whose Mom was on food stamps and who spent years organizing poor people on the South Side of Chicago, for being “insensitive to the poor”, for opposing a tax break of 18 cents when gas is $3.50/gallon. I mean, just get a good whiff of that kind of arrogance — smells like cat urine.
—
Great frickin’ idea, Hillary. Thanks. And you wonder why we’d be afraid of four more years of Dick Morris-esque triangulation. (Read the full post about ‘“Gas Tax Holiday”: Clinton is going backwards on Climate Change Policy’…)

(Gotta be some Cantabrigians who know something about this. - promoted by Charley on the MTA)

My fellow NPR junkies may have heard this piece that ran Friday and Saturday, about the city of Cambridge’s new program to encourage homeowners and businesses to retrofit their properties to become more energy efficient:

http://www.radioboston.org/ind…

The idea seems to be this; the city teams up with a local bank to offer low-interest loans that property owners that they can use to increase the energy efficiency of their buildings, by improving insulation, replacing obsolecent furnaces, etc.

(Read the full post about ‘Cambridge’s Big Green Plan’…)

Oh, my:

The 2007 Red Sox season was just underway when a group of professional ticket brokers held an unusual meeting in a private room at the Baseball Tavern, the storied bar in the shadows of Fenway Park. The main item on their agenda: How to persuade Massachusetts officials to keep ticket-resale profits rolling.

One man was there with an offer of help. He was not a broker, had no known experience as a political strategist, and has never registered as a State House lobbyist.

But Richard Vitale had something that the two dozen brokers came to believe was even more important to their cause - a close personal and professional relationship with Salvatore F.

(Read the full post about ‘The Globe’s big ticket item’…)

NEW YORK (AP) ― Roger Clemens had a decade-long relationship with country star Mindy McCready that began when she was a 15-year-old aspiring singer and the pitcher was a Boston Red Sox ace, the Daily News reported.

Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin, confirmed a long-term relationship but told the newspaper it was not sexual.

“He flatly denies having had any kind of an inappropriate relationship with her,” Hardin said. “He’s considered her a close family friend. … He has never had a sexual relationship with her.”

Clemens was 28 and a married father of two when he first met McCready, the newspaper reported. (Read the full post about ‘Report: Clemens Had Affair With Country Singer’…)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Miley Cyrus is taking issue with a photo of herself that’s going around, and it’s not another amateur, truth-or-dare Internet snapshot - it’s the handiwork of Annie Leibovitz.

“I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed,” Cyrus said Sunday in a statement through her publicist. “I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about.”

The photos, appearing in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, were taken by Leibovitz, a renowned celebrity photographer whose edgy, silver-toned portraits have included subjects such as Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson and a naked, pregnant Demi Moore. (Read the full post about ‘Miley Cyrus Embarrassed By ‘Vanity Fair’ Spread’…)

INDIO, Calif. (AP) ― By the end of Coachella, over 100 bands had fanned out across five stages, more than 150,000 people had sweltered through the desert heat and at least as many bottles of water had been guzzled.

But there was one who rose above all others.

Prince, in his Saturday evening headlining performance, firmly established himself in Coachella lore among famous concerts from years past, including the Pixies and Rage Against the Machine. (Read the full post about ‘Prince, Portishead Make Coachella A Success’…)

“Baby Mama,” Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s comedy about surrogate motherhood, delivered the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office with $18.3 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Universal Pictures laugher starring the “Saturday Night Live” duo crawled past Warner Bros.’ “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” the goofy stoner flick that opened at No. 2 with $14.6 million.

With a third comedy, Universal’s “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” holding its own at No. 4 with $11 million, audiences looked to be flocking to theaters to get giddy.

“Comedy is definitely king right now,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Media By Numbers LLC. (Read the full post about ‘‘Baby Mama’ Delivers Number 1 Spot At Box Office’…)

INDIO, Calif. (CBS) ― The Verve played their first concert in the U.S. in 10 years, taking the stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival.

The psychedelic Brit Pop group played for about an hour as one of the main attractions on Friday, the first day of the three-day Southern California festival where more than 100 bands are scheduled to perform. The Verve reunited last summer, but had previously only played a handful of sold-out concerts in Europe.

On Friday, frontman Richard Ashcroft thanked “the hardcore” for coming out to see them. The band was sure to play its biggest hit, “Bittersweet Symphony,” but Ashcroft made it clear they weren’t only on a nostalgia trip. (Read the full post about ‘The Verve Reunites For First Concert In 10 Years’…)

DORCHESTER (WBZ) ― Two people were rushed to the hospital after a bad accident involving a Boston police cruiser Monday night.

The crash happened at the intersection of Morton and Washington Streets in Dorchester. According to police, the officer involved was transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The other driver was rushed to Boston Medical Center and is said to have non-life threatening injuries.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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(Read the full post about ‘Boston Police Cruiser Involved In Dorchester Crash’…)