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tetris
Advanced Member
1480 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2009 : 07:19:55 AM
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EVERETT
Child hurt in hit-and-run; car hunted
Police were looking for a black Honda or Hyundai last night after it struck a child at the intersection of Tileston and Cross streets. The motor vehicle fled the scene about 6:30 p.m. after striking the child, whose age and identity were not released by police. The victim was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital in serious condition. Police believe the vehicle will have damage to its front end and possibly a broken windshield.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
Boy struck by driver in Everett
By Herald wire services
Monday, August 24, 2009
An 11-year-old boy was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Everett last night, and was listed in serious condition at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The boy was run down at Tileston and Cross streets about 6 p.m., Lt. John Balfe said. Balfe could not say if the boy, whom he declined to identify, was in a crosswalk.
The extent of the boy’s injuries was not available.
Police believe the driver was in a black Honda or Hyundai that sustained front-end or windshield damage. |
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Tails
Administrator
1757 Posts |
 Posted - 09/15/2009 : 10:10:52 AM
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Is this true for all cities and towns?
State orders City Hall computers secured in e-mail dispute
By Michael Levenson and Donovan Slack, Globe Staff
Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office has ordered the city of Boston to immediately secure City Hall computers and hire an independent computer forensics expert to retrieve emails that were improperly deleted by Mayor Thomas M. Menino's top policy aide.
The head of the public records division of Galvin's office, Alan N. Cote, wrote in a letter to Menino's chief lawyer that the demand was based on the "credible belief" that the aide, Michael J. Kineavy, violated the state public records law by routinely deleting emails in such a way that copies would not be preserved by city servers. Cote said his office received copies of 300 emails today listing Kineavy as a sender or recipient and sent via city computers "which now appear to have been improperly deleted."
The public records law requires municipal employees to save electronic correspondence for at least two years, even if the contents are of "no informational or evidential value." Penalties include fines of up to $500 or prison sentences of up to one year.
Cote ordered the city to hire "a qualified independent and competent technology expert to employ all reasonable means of recovering and restoring the missing records." He said a full inventory of the missing records must be delivered to him within the next 10 days.
Menino administration officials, prompted by a public records request from the Globe, have acknowledged that Kineavy was deleting his emails on a daily basis and copies were not saved on city servers. Kineavy is one of Menino's most powerful and trusted advisers, intimately involved in nearly everything at City Hall, but a search of city computers found just 18 e-mails he had sent or received between Oct. 1, 2008, and March 31 of this year.
Menino's chief lawyer, William Sinnott, said today that he had not received the letter from Galvin's office and so could not comment.
Kineavy was cited in a federal corruption indictment against former state senator Dianne Wilkerson as the mayoral "aide" whom Wilkerson spoke with to get help securing a liquor license for a prospective bar owner, according to two public officials briefed on the case. The bar owner was actually working undercover for the FBI and paying Wilkerson thousands of dollars to help win the license.
Federal prosecutors have said the Menino administration was not the target of an investigation. But as part of its investigation, the FBI subpoeaned e-mails from City Hall, and Kineavy's were within the scope of that subpoena, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the federal investigation.
Sinnott said today that Kineavy has deleted e-mails on a daily basis for the past five years in a way that they were not backed up on city servers and therefore copies of all e-mails were not turned over to the FBI in response to the subpoena. He said the Menino administration didn't realize at the time that any of Kineavy's e-mails may have been missing from what was turned over, and the FBI "never asked for more."
The e-mails have emerged as a hotly contested issue in the mayoral race as next Tuesday's preliminary election nears. Menino's challengers -- City Councilors Michael F. Flaherty Jr. and Sam Yoon, and South End businessman Kevin McCrea -- hammered away at the incumbent today over the issue at a joint press conference at City Hall Plaza.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/09/galvin_orders_c.html |
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massdee
Moderator
4242 Posts |
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massdee
Moderator
4242 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2009 : 12:52:12 PM
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2009/10/04/everett_haverhill_lowell_methuen_and_revere_get_parks_money_from_state/
5 local cities get state aid for parks
October 4, 2009
Five local cities recently received a combined $740,000 in state grant money to improve parks.
The funding is part of $8.9 million distributed to 12 Massachusetts communities through the state’s Gateway City Parks initiative, said Kate Plourd, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which administers the program.
The grants target communities with more than 35,000 people and household incomes, per capita incomes, and educational attainment levels below the state average.
Haverhill received $400,000 to acquire land for a trail network along the Merrimack River. Lowell received $250,000 to produce design and construction documents for the third phase of the Concord River Greenway and a preliminary design for renovation of South Common. Everett, Methuen, and Revere received $30,000 each to draft open space and recreation plans.
Grants are administered on a rolling basis. The next round of funding will be distributed once a sufficient number of projects have been approved, Plourd said. Other north of Boston cities eligible for future Gateway City Parks grants include Chelsea, Lawrence, Lynn, Malden, and Salem.
Brian Benson
"Deb" |
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massdee
Moderator
4242 Posts |
Posted - 10/06/2009 : 08:59:13 AM
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/10/three_face_char.html
Three face charges for allegedly stealing hundreds of Verizon Blackberrys
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
Three people are now facing criminal charges after they allegedly stole hundreds of Verizon Blackberrys and sold them over the Internet, earning themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit profits, Middlesex prosecutors alleged today.
Wayne Deleveaux, 22, of Everett is the alleged ringleader who relied on the assistance of Shartieya Lambert, 23, also of Everett, to obtain the Blackberrys by using fictitious names and, in some cases, invoking the names of legitimate companies.
The three then allegedly sold the telecommunication devices to a third person, Nihat Ozdemir, who is accused of re-selling them on e-Bay, Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said in a statement today.
“This was an extensive scheme,’’ Leone said in the statement announcing the indictments. “We thank Verizon for first discovering this scheme and then contacting authorities immediately…’’
According to prosecutors, Deleveaux was indicted on five counts of larceny over $250 for being a “common and notorious thief.’’ Lambert is charged with two counts of larceny over $250 and Ozdemir, 44, of Watertown, faces charges of receiving stolen property valued at more than $250.
An arraignment date for the three in Middlesex Superior Court has not yet been set. All three have previously been charged in Cambridge District Court where they pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.
Deleveaux is being held at the Middlesex Jail was while Lambert and Ozdemir were both released on personal recognizance, prosecutors said.
According to Leone’s office, the three people have been under investigation for the past several months by police in Cambridge, Somerville, and State Police with information provided by the Verizon Wireless Corporate Security investigators.
In July, police searched a storage facility allegedly rented by Deleveauz and Lambert and recovered “large amounts of cash,’’ Verizon Blackberry phones, bank documents and other Verizon equipment. Police also allegedly recovered stolen Blackberrys from Ozdemir.
Leone estimated the alleged scam had a value in excess of $600,000.
"Deb" |
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charm
Senior Member
189 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2009 : 07:14:56 AM
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Ethics law brings wave of confusion
By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent | October 15, 2009
City and town clerks are concerned that the paperwork imposed by the state’s new ethics law is posing a burden on their offices.
The legislation, which took effect Sept. 29, requires that clerks annually provide all municipal employees with a summary of the state’s conflict of interest law and collect receipts from those employees. Dec. 28 is the deadline for employees to receive the summary.
The law also requires municipal employees to take an online training program on the ethics law every two years and that clerks collect forms certifying they have done so. The state Ethics Commission recently extended the training deadline from Dec. 28 to April 2. Similar training is required of state and county workers.
Some local clerks say that while they welcome the intent of promoting greater awareness of the conflict of interest rules, the work they are being asked to do will be time-consuming and potentially costly.
“It’s adding to our already very large responsibilities that we have as city clerks. It’s just another one of those reg ulations that make it very difficult for local governments,’’ said Lowell City Clerk Richard Johnson.
A key issue for clerks concerns the definition the state has given for the municipal employees covered by the law.
Woburn City Clerk William Campbell noted that the definition, encompassing any paid or unpaid person performing services for or holding an office in a municipality, is broad enough to include board members, snow plow operators, traffic consultants, election poll workers, and even school volunteers.
While lists of regular employees are readily available, “How do I capture all of these other people who do things large and small for the city?’’ asked Campbell, a former president of the Massachusetts City Clerks Association.
Moving the training deadline to April 1 helped, Campbell said, but he maintains “the whole issue should be delayed until they can define what an employee is in a more realistic manner.’’
Beverly City Clerk Frances A. Macdonald, also a past president of the state clerks association, said she has heard a lot of concern and unhappiness from fellow clerks about implementing the new law.
She said the issue will be discussed at the organization’s meeting next Thursday.
Macdonald agreed that the definition of municipal employee is “very vague,’’ and is concerned that it includes poll workers.
“It’s hard getting them now,’’ she said of recruiting those election workers, many of whom are seniors. “If they realize they have to come in to take [the training], it may turn some of them off.’’
David Giannotti, a spokesman for the State Ethics Commission, said his agency has been getting “a lot of feedback’’ from clerks on the new law “and we are trying to be sensitive to the concerns that are being raised.’’
He said to try to help clerks comply with the rules, the office has advised them they can use e-mail to distribute the summaries, and that group training sessions can be offered for poll workers, for whom individual online training might not be practical.
“Conflict of interest law can be complex,’’ Giannotti said. “Making this kind of training mandatory will hopefully educate our public employees so that they will have better information to do their jobs and comply with the law.’’
Pam Wilmot, executive director of the public watchdog group Common Cause Massachusetts, noted that many of the people fined for violating the conflict of interest law are low-level municipal employees who “don’t understand what is expected of them. That is why having education about the requirements of the law is so critical.’’
She said the delay in implementing the training requirement “will give the commission time to clarify who needs to take the training and perhaps craft it more narrowly’’ so that the training provided on the local level is focused on municipal issues.
Needham Town Clerk Tedi Eaton, president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association, said there are many concerns being voiced about implementing the new law.
But she believes the issues will be resolved.
“This is going to take some time . . . to work out the kinks in it,’’ she said.
Peabody City Clerk Timothy Spanos said he is working with the city’s Human Resources Department to comply with the new requirements.
Spanos said the added work comes at a time when his and many other clerk’s offices are busy preparing for municipal elections and the special election for US Senate.
“It’s a mandate,’’ he said. “I’m not happy about it, but we have to do it. I think there should have been a little more thought put into the law before it was implemented.’’
Topsfield Town Clerk Beverly Ann Guarino agreed that the new law is time-consuming for clerks and believes it is being put into effect too hastily. But Guarino sees the public benefits outweighing any inconveniences.
“There are a lot of people who have looked the other way as far as ethics,’’ she said.
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tetris
Advanced Member
1480 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2009 : 08:06:53 AM
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Even though the assistant city solicitor got named the Ethics Commission liaison, it looks like the City Clerk's office gets a lot of the work.
Gotta love the last line of the article; I guess we're not the only ones that think that way. |
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card
Member
29 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2009 : 08:07:57 AM
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Job gains difficult to quantify
Projects get $412m in stimulus funds
By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent | November 15, 2009
The federal economic-stimulus program has meant an infusion of dollars for public and private projects across the region, though getting a clear idea of its effect on jobs is not a simple task.
The US government released figures recently that showed nearly $4 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act had been awarded to Massachusetts governmental entities, businesses, and nonprofit groups as of the end of last month, and put the number of jobs created or saved through the spending at 12,374.
But a Globe review of the figures last week found the jobs number was exaggerated. Its report cited instances in which recipients were given credit for more jobs than they had created, some through inaccurate counts or reflecting projects not yet started.
The $787 billion stimulus law has generated $411.9 million in funding for area communities, according to the US website tracking program, www.recovery.gov.
Leading the way among local recipients are Andover, with $66.1 million; Lowell, with $62.4 million; Lynn, with $34.7 million, and Lawrence, with $33.6 million. The least money flowed to Nahant, which has seen only $85,200. The website lists stimulus awards for all public and private projects within a community, not just those undertaken by the municipality. In some cases, state and federal projects represent a major share. Of the $66.1 million going to Andover, for instance, $57.1 million is for a project to modernize the Internal Revenue Service processing center on Route 133, the website reports.
Businesses receiving a boost from the program include Bethany Homes Inc., which manages subsidized senior housing in Haverhill. The company was awarded two rental-assistance grants totaling $586,120 from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development that, according to the federal website, created or saved a combined 17 clerical and maintenance jobs.
Pam Perron, finance clerk with Bethany Homes, said she questioned whether the stimulus money could be credited with those jobs, noting that it helped to fund contracts the company likely would have received anyway, as it has in past years.
“These are contracts we normally get. They are just paying for it with stimulus money,’’ she said. “I wouldn’t really call it stimulus money at all. They just labeled it that way.’’
But other recipients say the money is providing an employment boost.
Physical Sciences Inc., a research and development operation in Andover, was awarded $116,751 by the National Institutes of Health to help develop a monitoring instrument for cancer treatments that use low-intensity lasers.
Steven Davis, executive vice president of its applied sciences division, said the money will pay for a new researcher to work full time on the project, and help retain two other jobs.
“It clearly is being used to create employment and also to try to speed up the research,’’ he said of the grant.
Physical Sciences received a separate National Institutes of Health grant for $56,313 to help with its development of an instrument to examine retinas for early signs of age-related macular degeneration, a key cause of blindness in older adults.
While the funding was not credited with any new or retained jobs, Davis said it has the strong potential for indirectly boosting employment, since the development of the optical instrument would create jobs in manufacturing and medical research centers.
Pathways for Children, a Gloucester early education agency, received a $91,435 stimulus award for its Head Start program from the federal Administration for Children and Families.
The money is helping to pay the salary of a teacher who would otherwise have been laid off, according to Sue Todd, Pathway’s president and chief executive officer, as well as provide expanded staff training, pay for several teachers to add certification, and cover a one-year, 1.17 percent cost-of-living raise for teachers.
Todd acknowledged that the figure for the number of jobs created or saved by the grant - 3.59 - may seem inflated, based on how the money is being used, but said that her agency simply followed a formula provided by the federal government.
“Quite frankly, we struggled with the way to report this. The feds have acknowledged it was confusing,’’ Todd said, adding that reports due in January are expected to “reflect a much more realistic assessment of jobs created or saved.’’
But she said there was no doubt in her mind that the stimulus money is helping: “Any time there can be an investment made in training and in enhancing even to a modest degree professional teaching salaries, it benefits the children.’’
Endicott College in Beverly received $34,929 from the US Department of Education, a grant that the federal website lists as having created or saved the full-time equivalent of four student work-study jobs.
Donna Couture, the college’s treasurer, said the stimulus money is part of an overall $200,000 federal allocation Endicott received for its work-study program, which provides employment on campus to students with financial need.
She acknowledged that Endicott received nearly as much - $190,000 - in US aid for the work-study program last year, before the stimulus program was launched. But Couture said she believes the stimulus money was valuable this year as well.
“If not for this $35,000, maybe our allocation would have been less and we would not have had those funds available for our students with financial need.’’
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BOSTON GLOBE 2009
