A political tip sheet for the rest of usA political tip sheet for the rest of us outside the Washington Beltway, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012:
Study finds MDs not always honest with patientsTrust your doctor? A survey finds that some doctors aren't always completely honest with their patients.
Barge in place for removal of NH bridge spanA barge is in place to remove a 2-million pound section of the historic Memorial Bridge linking New Hampshire and Maine.
Unplanned 9/11 analysis links noise, whale stressResearchers say an ocean experiment that was accidentally conducted amid the shipping silence after Sept. 11 has shown the first link between underwater noise and stress in whales.
Unplanned experiment links noise and whale stressResearchers say an ocean experiment accidentally conducted amid the post-Sept. 11 silence has shown the first link between underwater noise and stress in whales.
GOP vows to reverse Obama birth control policyRepublicans vowed Wednesday to reverse President Barack Obama's new policy on birth control, lambasting the rule that religious schools and hospitals must provide contraceptive coverage for their employees as an "unambiguous attack on religious freedom in our country."
White House attacks Romney on birth controlThe White House is taking on GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney over his criticism of President Barack Obama's birth control coverage mandate.
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No say for some who would be casinos’ neighborsMike McCarthy lives close enough to a Gillette Stadium parking lot to smell the hibachi grills on game day. He doesn’t mind Sunday tailgaters a few hundred feet from his house, but draws the line at a billion-dollar casino. But though he lives closer than almost anyone to the planned site of a Wynn Resorts casino, he won’t be allowed to vote in any local referendum if the project makes it to a vote. The casino would be in Foxborough; McCarthy lives a few steps over the town line, in South Walpole.
Residents turn to towns for help battling coyotesFor 40 years, Ann Tolkoff never imagined seeing a coyote in her hilltop neighborhood near Coolidge Corner, where the Prudential Center is in clear view, far from the open plains. But over the past year, the rangy scavenger has become a regular, unsettling presence in the dense urban area, foraging through garbage, attacking small pets, and lurking menacingly along residential streets.
Occupy reaches outIn the suburbs, Occupy groups haven’t pitched any tents or occupied any territory. Their focus remains on economic inequality in the United States. Local groups, in Somerville, Malden, Salem, Lowell, Woburn, and on Cape Ann, have blended national issues - such as unemployment, homelessness and high corporate earnings - with local concerns, which range from protesting the proposed MBTA fare hikes to keeping a hospital in business in Gloucester.
Salem’s official witch moves her magic onlineFor roughly 17 years Salem’s Pickering Wharf was the Graceland for witchcraft and Laurie Cabot its Elvis. Cabot, 79, who opened Salem’s first witch shop about 40 years ago on Derby Street, locked her doors at 63R Wharf St. Jan 31 for good. But she is not retiring.
Development of golf course site beginsNearly five years since Lynnfield voters approved a zoning change to allow a mixed-use development on the former Sheraton Colonial Golf Course, the project is moving forward. In December, workers began demolishing the former golf course buildings, opening the way for other site preparation to begin this spring. The project was originally set to be constructed in 2009, but was stalled due to the economic downturn.
Water board in another disputeThe Cohasset Water Department is making waves again - this time for questions about potential conflict of interest involving the chairman of the water commission and over concerns about plans to give a 20-year contract to a company to run the town-owned utility. Commissioners counter there is no conflict and they are only trying to do the best for the town - and wish the town manager would stop sabotaging their efforts.
Fire official looking into sky lanternsThe state’s top fire official is exploring whether the use of popular floating paper luminaries falls under a Massachusetts law banning fireworks and, if it doesn’t, whether it should. Fire Marshal Stephen Coan’s move follows a Christmas incident in Hanover in which 40 flaming paper sky lanterns, as they are known, launched by a resident at a family party floated above trees and over the town line into a Norwell neighborhood, sparking panic in drivers and others who noticed them in the night sky.
Alumni help St. Bridget celebrate 50 yearsTwo alumni who have been highly successful in their careers returned to their alma mater in Abington to help celebrate St. Bridget’s 50th anniversary last week, reminiscing about long-ago days spent at the parochial school and fielding some tough questions from seventh- and eighth-graders there now. Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman John Walsh, a member of the eighth-grade class of 1971, and state Auditor Suzanne Bump, class of 1969, said values learned at the school still hold true.
Lofty regional roleThe airport in Stow was a grass landing strip in the early 1960s when Paul McPherson, an instrument-maker who loved to fly, bought the land and renamed it Minute Man Air Field. It’s now home to several flight-training schools, a bakery, a restaurant, a printing company and more than 60 planes and helicopters.
Seeking a better world through basketballIn 2007, Medfield’s Justin Kittredge started an inner city program for youths, Shooting Touch Inc. He charged fees, and then raised additional funds to provide a $25,000 grant to a graduating college senior who could go anywhere in the world for 10 months with a clear mission: to use basketball, through clinics and education, etc., to work with the underprivileged and effect positive change.
