November 29, 2007
Paul Gaynor, the CEO of UPC Wind in Newton
REGION
Roaring with the constant din of traffic and enveloped in fossil-fuel exhaust, the Massachusetts Turnpike corridor seems an unlikely path to a future of clean, renewable energy.
Yet Boston's western suburbs have quietly become home to companies that are national and even world leaders in developing clean, renewable power sources, staff writer Ralph Ranalli reports in today's Globe West.
Although they specialize in different areas - wind energy, solar power, fuel cells, batteries - top executives at four of the companies say they share an appreciation of the deep well of brainpower and technical talent in the region and a commitment to a sustainable energy future.
"The biggest advantage is access to the talent pool here," UPC Wind's chief executive officer, Paul Gaynor, said last week. "There are a lot of folks with great energy backgrounds, and the current state administration is being very proactive in terms of helping us out."
Read more about four companies - A123 Systems in Watertown, Evergreen Solar Inc. in Marlborough, Protonex Corp. in Southborough, and the Newton-based UPC Wind - at the forefront in the search for alternative sources of energy.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:32 AM
November 29, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents have cast their nets around the region and hauled in a bounty of interesting stories for today's edition, including:
Correspondent Alexandra Perloe's report about how Ashland parents are being asked to complete a survey about drug and alcohol use by adolescents, in an effort to close the sometimes significant gap between the perceptions of adults and the realities of teenagers;
Staff writer Ralph Ranalli's story about how a rule change on handicapped ramps has helped the once-reliable Needham Line on the Commuter Rail sink into a morass of tardy trains and frustrated riders;
Correspondent Nadia Salomon's story about how state officials are making it easier for non-custodial parents to get information about their children's school records, and;
Staff writer Stephanie Siek's report about how Waltham School Committee members say collective bargaining has delayed completion of the annual performance review for the district's superintendent, Susan Parrella, who is now in the final year of a contract that may not be renewed.
For a complete listing of all of today's Globe West stories, visit the section online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 07:44 AM
November 11, 2007
Lt. Joshua Booth with his wife and young daughter while they were stationed in Hawaii, shortly before he was deployed to Iraq.
(Photo courtesy of the Booth family)
REGION
Before he was deployed to Iraq, Marine Lieutenant Joshua L. Booth made seven videos of himself reading bedtime stories, so that his daughter, Grace, could hear her father's voice before going to bed.
Booth was killed by a sniper on Oct. 17 of last year in Haditha. A graduate of St. John's High School in Shrewsbury who grew up in Sturbridge, he was 23.
The Booth family played the videos for Grace again recently, but her reaction wasn't what they expected. She had nightmares for days afterward.
Booth is one of 10 members of the military from communities west of Boston who have died since the United States responded to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Two others, Seth R. Michaud, a Hudson native, and Kyle A. Little of West Boylston, also left behind young children who will grow up without a father.
Read more about the sacrifices made by military families in the Globe West region as Veteran's Day approaches.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 12:42 PM
November 8, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters have blanketed the region this week, uncovering a wide variety of interesting stories, including:
Bureau Chief Erica Noonan's story about how relatives of late neighborhood icon Anthony "Fat" Pelligrini are vowing that Nonantum's traditional Christmas events will go on, despite an intra-family fight over the foundation that sponsors them;
Correspondent Nadia Solomon's report about how, after five years of negotiations, police officers in the neighboring towns of Wellesley and Dover will be able to make arrests and exercise authority in both communities;
Another story by Noonan about how a lone protester is raising questions about a controversial traveling exhibition of posed cadavers that has set up shop in a former CompUSA store in Framingham, saying that the exhibit "is an affront to the dead and to the living," and;
Correspondent Alexandra Perloe's story about a group of construction workers from Wayland who have been building houses in Waveland, Miss, where 95 percent of the homes were destroyed two years ago by Hurricane Katrina.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 01:22 PM
October 18, 2007
NATICK/REGION
Natick-based Boston Scientific Corp., facing flagging sales for its two key product lines, has announced that will eliminate 2,300 jobs, or 8 percent of its worldwide workforce, restructure parts of its business, and go forward with plans to shed some less-critical assets.
The Natick maker of medical devices said it expects the cuts, set to begin this month and be substantially completed by 2008, will help it reduce annual expenses by 12 to 13 percent, boost profits, and make it easier to cope with the firm's crushing $8 billion in debt, staff writer Todd Wallack reported in the Globe's Business section.
Boston Scientific, the state's third-largest life sciences company, behind Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc., did not say where the job cuts will be made. But only 2,400 of its 28,000 workers are in Massachusetts, suggesting that a fraction of the layoffs will be in the Bay State. Boston Scientific employs nearly 1,000 at its corporate headquarters in Natick and about 1,000 at its endosurgery unit in Marlborough, which makes products for minimally invasive surgery.
Another 500 employees work at the Quincy distribution center, but some analysts think Minnesota, where the company's stent business is based, could bear the brunt of the layoffs.
"I don't think it will have a significant impact at all on total employment in the medical device industry in Massachusetts," said Thomas J. Sommer, president of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council.
Read more about the looming cuts at Boston Scientific on Boston.com.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:11 AM
October 18, 2007
Newton's Brae Burn Country Club reported on 2006 tax forms it had assets of $21 million and income of $9 million.
(Globe file photo)
REGION
Call it municipal fantasy math. There's hardly an official of almost any suburb who has not cast a longing gaze at the campus of a tony private school or the expansive headquarters of a local social-service agency and wished that nonprofit organizations had to pay local taxes on the properties they own.
In Newton, it's a fantasy worth millions. In February, the city's Blue Ribbon Commission, a citizen advisory group, urged officials to confront its five local colleges with a combined assessed property value of $450 million, Globe West bureau chief Erica Noonan reports in today's edition. If Boston College, Lasell College, Mount Ida College, Andover Newton Theological School, and Hebrew College paid property taxes, the city would collect nearly $6 million annually, the commission found.
Framingham, meanwhile, has become the first community to take official action on the dream, formally requesting payments from more than a dozen tax-exempt social service agencies with local holdings. The town's actions are being closely watched in the nonprofit world, concerned that other host towns will attempt to strong-arm nonprofit educational, religious, and charitable institutions - none of which pay local property taxes - into donating payments in lieu of taxes, also known as PILOT arrangements.
Residents and officials alike have focused on affluent local institutions that, by virtue of their tax-exempt status, own properties but pay no real estate taxes. Names of well-heeled suburban educational institutions like Wellesley College and Boston College, both of which reported more than $1.5 billion in assets to the IRS in 2005, surface in discussion groups and letters to the editor when their host communities hit budget crises.
But nonprofits - poor and rich alike - cry foul, saying the payments would threaten their core missions to educate the young, help the needy, or minister to the faithful.
Read more about the tensions between non-profits and their municipal hosts in the online edition of today's Globe West.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:39 AM
October 18, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents have stepped up to the plate today with a full lineup of interesting stories from around the region, including:
Staff writer Ralph Ranalli's report on how, with less than a year to go until the MCAS science exams become a mandatory graduation requirement, students in a dozen schools in the region had failure rates of 30 percent or higher on either the biology, chemistry, or physics exams;
Correspondent Kristen Green's story about how Lincoln, a longtime dry town, is in line to see its first drinking establishment as early as next summer;
Correspondent Lisa Keen's story about the debate raging in Wellesley about whether the town can and should use an $825,000 bequest, and raise additional funds, for a freestanding senior center for its aging baby-boomer population, or turn use the money upgrade the modest facilities for seniors currently available at the Wellesley Community Center, and;
Correspondent Tanya Perez-Brennan's report about how the debate over whether Framingham has too many shelters and social service agencies has moved to the internet via a popular local web site.
For a complete listing of all the stories in today's edition of Globe West, visit the section online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:30 AM
October 14, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents have journeyed across the region to bring you an exciting itinerary of stories and reports in today's edition, including:
Bureau Chief Erica Noonan's story about how fast-growing Orthodox Jewish community that has battled the city for nearly five years scored a major victory last week, defeating the last municipal obstacle to building a 12,000-square-foot synagogue in a residential neighborhood in Newton Highlands;
Correspondent John Dyer's report on how, in a counterintuitive measure practiced throughout Massachusetts, conservation workers are hacking and slashing undeveloped areas to add open fields that will create favorable habitats for deer, songbirds, and other animals;
Correspondent Calvin Hennick's story about how Holliston officials, stunned last month when the lowest bid for a police station came in about $800,000 over the town's budget, plan to slash about $1 million off the project and hope to begin construction in the spring, and;
Correspondent Christina Pazzanese's report about about several large properties in Watertown -- including a nearly 12-acre swath of land at Greenough Boulevard and Arsenal Street that was once used to burn depleted uranium from a Watertown Arsenal nuclear reactor -- that are undergoing close scrutiny to determine how badly contaminated they are and who is responsible for cleaning them up.
For a complete list of stories in today's edition of Globe West, visit the section online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:13 AM
October 11, 2007
Once a mechanic, Brian Smith of Framingham now works as an auto appraiser.
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)
REGION
After surgeons installed two mechanical valves to repair his congenital heart defect, Brian Smith knew he had seen the end of his grease-monkey days. Heavy lifting was out of the question, and he had to avoid sharp objects because his new blood-thinning medication made cuts potentially disastrous.
Unable to work at his former job as a mechanic at a Framingham car dealership, Smith went on Social Security for a few years. By 2002, he had recovered and, no longer qualifying for public assistance, was told to get a job, Globe West correspondent John Dyer reports today.
"They were telling me I could go back to work, but they all agreed I couldn't do what I used to do," said the 49-year-old Bellingham resident. "They were thinking about me selling movie tickets. But I have two kids. I wasn't going to go back to a job for minimum wage."
After a four-year job search, his first in decades, Smith received training in a state program and landed a position as an automobile appraiser for a Mendon company. Now he's a proud earner.
Smith's happy ending is the exception, not the rule. Across the state, disabled people and their advocates say that while progress is being made in putting the disabled onto payrolls, most are still unemployed.
The gap between disabled people and the help they need leaves a hole in the region's economy, in the form of an untapped workforce, they say. Although the Massachusetts unemployment rate is hovering between 4 and 5 percent overall, around 70 percent of the state's approximately 550,000 disabled residents older than 18 don't work, said Charles Carr, commissioner of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, the agency that helped retrain Smith.
Read more about how the disabled are being retrained to work in the online edition of today's Globe West.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:37 AM
October 11, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters have roamed the region and have reported back with a full menu of interesting stories this week, including:
Correspondent Alex Oster's report on how the recent dry spell could affect the fall leaf-peeping season and the annual tourism dollars it brings in;
Bureau chief Erica Noonan's stony on how regional planners and politicians think they can finally get Route 9 -- one of the state's busiest and and most congested regional economic corridors -- onto the state's transportation priority list;
Staff writer Stephanie Siek's report on how next month's city government ballot in Waltham is a mix of familiar faces from past races and first-time candidates hoping that voters are ready to see a transfusion of new blood, and;
Correspondent Alexandra Perloe's story about how administrators at Franklin High School have pooled together freshmen into smaller -- and hopefully tight-knit -- teams to help keep students from dropping out.
You can see a complete listing of all of today's Globe West stories by visiting the section online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:30 AM
October 11, 2007
WASHINGTON/REGION
A key congressional committee approved a resolution yesterday that brands the World War I-era Ottoman Empire massacres of Armenians as genocide, despite warnings from President Bush that the measure would anger Turkey, a crucial US ally assisting the effort in Iraq.
The move was welcomed as good new by local Armenian-Americans, who have spearhead the move to have the resolution passed and who have been pressuring groups like the Anti-Defamation League to recognize the genocide. There are an estimated 50,000 Armenian-Americans in Massachusetts, Globe staff writer Farah Stockman reports today.
"It's absurd to think that we can have a foreign policy that does not acknowledge the past," said Sharistan Melkonian, a Waltham resident who chairs the Armenian National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts. She said US foreign policy has up until this point been "held hostage to lies."
In a rare show of urgency, Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates each declared that the resolution the House Committee on Foreign Affairs approved could lead Turkey's leaders to curb vital US military supply routes through their country, leaving American troops without enough equipment to conduct operations in neighboring Iraq.
"We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people," Bush told reporters on the White House lawn hours before the vote. "This resolution is not the right response to these mass killings."
Read more about the showdown over the genocide vote in the online edition of today's Globe.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:19 AM
October 8, 2007
REGION
The state Division of Conservation and Recreation and the MBTA are negotiating terms of a 99-year lease by the parks agency of an old rail corridor the T controls between Waltham and the Central Massachusetts town of Berlin.
Nonprofit local land groups, including Wachusett Greenways and the East Quabbin Land Trust, have begun working on upgrading the rail line for cyclists and strollers west of Berlin to connect to the existing Norwottuck Trail from Belchertown to Northampton, Globe staff writer Peter Howe reports in today's City & Region section.
Read more of Howe's story about a plan top state parks planners have for a latticework of 100 miles of bike trails statewide.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:47 AM
October 7, 2007
(Globe staff photo by David L. Ryan)
REGION/TRAFFIC
A typical commute from Framingham to Boston costs as much as $900 annually in tolls. In January, that amount will increase to $1,150, thanks to toll increases approved Thursday by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board.
Under the new toll structure, typical commuters living outside of Route 128 would pay $1.25 each time they use the Weston (Exit 15) and Allston-Brighton (Exit 18) toll booths. Between the gas tax and the tolls, drivers from the western suburbs would pay more than nine times as much for their commutes than those from Boston's northwest suburbs and on the South Shore, which do not have tolls on their major highways into the city.
The board rejected a second proposed increase that would have raised the Allston-Brighton and Weston tolls to $1.75, adding another $500 to a yearly commute from Framingham.
Even though the increase as voted is smaller than it could have been, it has many commuters, local officials, and politicians questioning whether the cost of the increasingly expensive roadway is still worthwhile, staff writer Ralph Ranalli reports in today's Globe West.
The issue of the toll increases is not necessarily dead, however. The hikes still face a public hearing process and a final board vote, and board member Mary Connaughton - who represents the interests of the western suburbs - has said she will urge her colleagues to reconsider Thursday's vote, instead increasing tolls only in the Boston Harbor tunnels.
Read more about the issue of toll equity in the online edition of today's Globe West.
Also, check out Globe transportation reporter Noah Bierman's report in today's City & Region section on how technology could someday drastically change who pays highway tolls in Massachusetts and how they are collected.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 12:31 PM
October 7, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents have spread out across the region to bring you a buffet of interesting stories today, including:
Correspondent Lisa Keen's report about how the use of modular classrooms to expand capacity at old school buildings, usually a simple solution to a common problem, has turned into a tricky, expensive, and contentious dilemma for Wellesley High School;
Correspondent Alexandra Perloe's story about how, frustrated with the remedy proposed by Medway water and sewer commissioners for the brown water coursing through pipes in the northeast section of town, officials and residents made their feelings clear during a selectmen's meeting last week, and;
Staff writer Stephanie Siek's report about how a luxury housing development going up near a corner of Weston's Highland Street and Boston Post Road boasts top-of-the-line technology for those less-savory elements of modern life, waste-water and storm-water treatment.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:25 AM
October 4, 2007
(Sky & Telescope Magazine Satellite Photo)
REGION/UNIVERSE
Astronomy professor Wendy Bauer pulls on a thick rope, opening to the night sky the huge, overhead dome of Wellesley College's Whitin Observatory. She aims the antique brass-and-mahogany telescope, twice as tall as she is, toward the opening. Then she climbs a rickety wooden ladder to look for Jupiter.
Other than her blue T-shirt, she could be taken for an astronomer in 1900, the year the observatory was built. But there's another difference between then and now - the view. The stars at night are not so bright, staff writer Lisa Kocian reports in today's Globe West.
As development has come to the western suburbs, so has light pollution. And the change has occurred so quickly, local astronomers say, that there hardly is anywhere in Greater Boston that has escaped its drastic effect in recent years.
When Bauer arrived at Wellesley in 1979, she could see the Milky Way with her naked eye. No longer.
Wellesley's situation exemplifies what has become an international debate over what to do about the fading firmament. The International Dark-Sky Association, headquartered in Tucson, was incorporated in 1988 to spread the word about light pollution. Bauer, who describes herself as a not-very-active member, said lobbying against wasted light isn't antidevelopment because there are plenty of light fixtures available now that don't illuminate the sky. The trick, she said, is to increase public awareness.
Read more about the debate over light pollution in the online edition of today's Globe West.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:03 AM
October 4, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents cover the region from Newton Corner to the Worcester line, and have come up with a wide variety of interesting stories for today's section, including:
Correspondent Tanya Pérez-Brennan's report about how fears of arrest and immigration enforcement are scaring away customers and hurting Brazilian businesses in once-vibrant downtown Framingham, where several empty storefronts now abound;
Arts correspondent Denise Taylor's story about how an unusual theater piece created in Wayland -- a hip-hop musical version of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" -- has made it all the way to a high school in Johannesburg, South Africa;
Staff writer Meg Woolhouse's story about a new pie bakery in Newton Centre, and;
Correspondent Matt Gunderson's piece about how momentum is building to refurbish a 3.2-mile stretch of former railroad bed in Stow that would help complete a "missing link" along the Assabet River Rail Trail, a 12.5-mile scenic path from Marlborough to Acton.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:20 AM
October 4, 2007
REGION
The state will begin feasibility studies for local school projects about a month earlier than anticipated, potentially allowing some projects to be ready for Town Meeting votes next spring, staff writer James Vaznis of the reports in the Globe's City & Region Section today.
On Nov. 2, the state School Building Authority will decide which school districts' proposed projects to study first. Other districts will be selected on a rolling basis after that.
Being selected for a feasibility study doesn't automatically guarantee construction funding, but it is a prerequisite. More than a dozen school districts west of Boston are among 161 districts statewide competing for about $500 million in construction funds this year, the first time in four years the state is doling out school construction money.
In choosing which feasibility studies to pursue first, the state has been dispatching inspection teams to analyze building conditions and enrollment trends, visiting 90 districts so far. Those districts include Berlin-Boylston, Franklin, Hopkinton, Hudson, Marlborough, Maynard, Nashoba, Natick, Needham, Norfolk, Shrewsbury, Wayland, and Wellesley.
The resulting studies, which should be completed this winter, will give the state the first glimpse of how much it could potentially cost to do all the projects. In all, 161 districts have expressed interest in 422 school projects.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:51 AM
October 1, 2007
NATICK/REGION
Central Massachusetts should be fertile ground for luxury retailers and the Natick Collection, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette is reporting.
The Census Bureau estimates Worcester County is home to 110,686 households with more than $75,000 in annual income. An estimated 71,571 of those households, or 25 percent of all households in the county, have more than $100,000 in annual income.
Yet aside from small, independent boutiques or specialty retailers, it’s tough to find brand-name luxury shopping in the Worcester area. Shoppers willing to plunk down $300 or more for a wool sweater generally have to get in their cars and drive — to Newbury Street in Boston or the Mall at Chestnut Hill in Newton; to Providence or to New York City.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:46 AM
September 30, 2007
Wellesley Planning Director Rick Brown with the Linden Square project.
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)
REGION
Lincoln's town center is hardly a hotbed of activity. A speed bump greets visitors driving in on the main drag.
Yet last week, a developer broke ground on a $7 million project to renovate a local shopping center and erect a 2 1/2 story building in this no-stoplight downtown. There are even plans for a restaurant, with the town's first-ever liquor license.
"Everyone's a little nervous," said Cathy Jahrling, one of the few customers grocery shopping at Donelan's Market in the town center on a recent morning. "Change doesn't come easily to Lincoln."
The same could be said of many New England cities and towns, yet change is on the way. In Franklin, Westborough, Marlborough, and other communities, private developers are building multimillion-dollar projects aimed at recreating downtown centers, often in their own image, staff writer Megan Woolhouse reports in today's Globe West. The goal of some of the projects is to mimic the look and feel of a New England village, creating space for merchants, new apartments, and even new public commons.
The investment is anything but common. In Franklin, there is $28 million in construction. A Westborough developer won't disclose the cost of its 23-acre downtown redevelopment project, except to say it is in the tens of millions.
The changes don't come without public debate. Downtowns are often the psychological epicenter of their communities. In Newton, a city task force has been at odds for months over how to redevelop that city's center.
Read more about the push to revitalize town centers in today's Globe West.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:21 AM
September 30, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents have fanned out across the region to bring you a variety of compelling stories in today's edition, including:
Staff writer Ralph Ranalli's report about how state environmental officials are phasing out odd-even day watering bans, saying they may actually be encouraging homeowners to use more water, not less;
Staff writer Meg Woolhouse's story about how Newton Mayor David B. Cohen's insistence on pushing through a proposal for articial turf fields at Newton South High School has angered critics who believe the city has more pressing capital needs;
Correspondent Matt Gunderson's report detailing how the days of hiding dismal report cards and midterm grades to avoid the wrath of parents may soon become a relic of the past, as more and more schools ramp up their online links with parents, and;
Correspondent John Dyer's report about a proposal in Westborough to ban JetSkis and other personal watercraft.
For a complete listing of all of today's Globe West stories, visit the section online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:15 AM
September 27, 2007
The Deluxe Town Diner in Watertown
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)
REGION
It's community and atmosphere and regulars. It's historic character and comfortable booths and french fries. And, oh yeah, long hours. Really long, brutal hours.
Ask anyone what makes a diner a diner. You'll hear about the food, the building, and the history. But for all the enthusiasm, for all the nostalgia, diners are disappearing because they are so tough to run. Nationally, the number of diners has dropped from 5,000 to about 1,500 over the last 55 years, staff writer Lisa Kocian reports in today's Globe West.
It's a problem Shrewsbury officials have wrestled with for two decades. The town acquired the Edgemere Diner, a streamlined classic on Route 20, in 1987 because the owners stopped paying property taxes. After years of renting it out on short-term leases, two years at a time to start, the town decided this summer to offer a better deal. It tried to sell the diner car, made in 1948 by the Fodero Dining Car Co. of New Jersey, with a 20-year lease of the land in order to give a new proprietor incentive to invest in the business and make improvements.
But no one wanted to take it on.
Read more about the struggle to keep classic diners open in the online edition of today's Globe West.
Globe West is also telling the story in pictures, via an online photo gallery.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:13 AM
September 27, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents have filed a broad array of fascinating stories from around the region today, including:
Staff writer Stephanie Siek's story about how, even on the eve of her reelection bid, Waltham Mayor Jeanette McCarthy continues to challenge the city's political establishment, most recently in her attempt to change the rules that prevent her from reaching outside the city to hire a new police chief;
Correspondent Alexandra Perloe's report about how Franklin officials say the town of Norfolk has not held up its end of a 14-year-old water-sharing agreement and owes Franklin $43,717 for water it has been sending to Norfolk for more than a decade;
Correspondent John Dyer's story about how state and local historic preservation watchdogs are sounding alarms over the Fay School's plans to demolish three old houses on its campus in Southborough, and;
Sports writer Jeremy Gottlieb, in his Football Thursday column, reports how in the town of Shrewsbury, the matchup with nearby Saint John's of Shrewsbury is considered the game by which all others are measured.
For a complete listing of all the stories in today's Globe West, visit the section online.
-- Ralph Ranalli
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:55 AM
September 24, 2007
REGION/TRAFFIC
Toll booths in Massachusetts - and across the nation - could be heading the way of manual typewriters and vinyl records.
Instead of fumbling for change or navigating through special lanes in transponder-equipped cars, drivers may soon have to do little more than cruise on and off highways passing under a metal beam spanning the entire width of the road. At the end of the month they'd receive a bill, much like any other utility bill. Except this bill would log each time they entered or exited a highway system, how far they traveled and how much they owed.
The idea is called "open road tolling" and it's a key recommendation of a new report on ways Massachusetts can close a multi-billion gap in transportation funding over the next two decades.
It's more than just an idea. In Melbourne, Toronto and Israel, open road tolling has been a reality for years. States like Texas, Florida and Illinois are already starting to employ the technology.
While the authors of a new report on Massachusetts' transportation funding dilemma concede open road tolling - something they envision for all highways, not just the Massachusetts Turnpike - is still years off, the plan is already drawing fire. Chief among the early critics are privacy activists who say they worry about any plan that allows the government to essentially track the movements of citizens.
Ann Lambert, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said she worries about information being stored indefinitely in databanks.
"They clearly haven't thought through the need for privacy safeguards and the flushing of information after the data isn't needed," Lambert said.
-- AP
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:24 AM
September 23, 2007
Tina Fisher holds a picture of herself, pre-surgery. (That's her on the right. Honest.)
(Globe staff photo by David Kamerman)
NEWTON/WELLESLEY/REGION
The findings - released last month from long-term studies of 20,000 dangerously overweight people in Utah and Sweden - were stunning.
Obese patients who had undergone stomach reduction surgery were up to 40 percent more likely to live longer, 56 percent less likely to die of heart disease, and 92 percent less likely to die from diabetes than those who tried diet and exercise alone.
Yet for Tina Fisher, program coordinator for the new Center for Weight Loss Surgery at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, the studies only confirmed what she already knew. In the six years since her own gastric bypass surgery, the 30-year-old nurse practitioner has lost 137 pounds. She exercises four times a week, can fit into a standard movie theater seat, and sometimes forgets what her old life was like, staff writer and web producer Ralph Ranalli reports in today's Globe West.
A roller-coaster enthusiast, Fisher used to watch her husband ride alone because she was worried whether the seat belt or safety bar would fit around her 297-pound frame. She also suffered from the litany of health woes common to the very overweight diabetes, joint problems, and sleep apnea, a disorder in which a person literally stops breathing repeatedly during sleep.
"Patients come back and tell me about their experiences, like the first time they didn't have to go into a plus-size clothing store," she said. "And I think, 'Oh yeah, I remember that.' "
Thanks to stories like Fisher's, officials at Newton-Wellesley said they were convinced that gastric bypass operations represent a sound medical option and were aggressively expanding their weight loss surgery practice even before the new findings were released. Last year, the hospital's bariatric surgery program was accredited to operate on even the most severely obese patients, and in June, the program was elevated to a full-fledged department and renamed the Center for Weight Loss Surgery.
As it turns out, the timing of the hospital's push could not have been better, officials said.
Read more about how bariatric surgery is changing lives in the online edition of today's Globe West. While you're there, you can also view an audio slide show about Tina Fisher's experience with the surgery and losing 137 pounds.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:48 AM
September 23, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents have dished up a buffet of savory stories from around the region today, including:
Staff writer Stephanie Siek's story about Watertown native and 19-year-old Princeton University sophomore Wesley Morgan, who has developed a special close relationship with Army General David H. Petraeus, the commander of American forces in Iraq;
Correspondent Calvin Hennick's report about how Wrentham officials -- eyeing major construction projects going up along Route 1 in neighboring Foxborough and Plainville -- are considering zoning changes to encourage businesses to build on the town's own less-developed stretch of the highway;
Correspondent Tanya Pérez-Brennan's story about how Framingham residents, frustrated by what they believe is an overabundance of social service agencies in town, have been granted the public hearing they had demanded from town officials, and;
Correspondent Alexandra Perloe's story about how Medway officials are proposing to tackle the problem the town is having with its water, which is so heavy with iron that it stains clothing brown.
For a complete listing of all of today's Globe West stories, visit the section online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:45 AM
September 20, 2007
Nilton Lisboa is helping to form an advocacy group for immigrants in Marlborough
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)
REGION
A doctor, a real estate broker, a sales manager for an oil company, and three local business owners gathered in Marlborough last week to fight anti-immigrant sentiment. Two members of the group are in their late 20s, grew up in Marlborough, and are bilingual. All are immigrants, from either Brazil or Portugal.
The hostility they feel takes a number of forms in several communities: a revised town health code; a city's effort to get its own federal immigration office; anonymous hate fliers left in an apartment house lobby.
These sort of events and more have prompted defensive measures. Immigrants and their advocates are fighting back by getting organized, staff writer Lisa Kocian and correspondent Tanya Perez-Brennan report in today's Globe West.
In Marlborough, the City Council's attempt to open a local office for federal immigration authorities inspired the group of immigrant professionals to form an advocacy group over the summer. In Framingham, a community meeting was organized last week in response to a batch of fliers carrying the threat of deportation, which were distributed around an apartment complex. In Milford, some residents are trying to repeal a measure on overcrowded apartments that is widely seen as targeting immigrants.
"We are here permanently and we have as much love for this city as others," said Nilton Lisboa, who spearheaded the formation of the new Marlborough group.
Read more about organized efforts to fight discrimination against immigrants in the online edition of today's Globe West.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:10 AM
September 20, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents have filed a wide array of compelling stories from around the region, including:
Bureau chief Erica Noonan's story about how the myriad modern amenities at the upscale new Natick Collection shopping mall apparently do not include a recycling program;
Staff writer Lisa Kocian's report about how community leaders in Marlborough are still preparing for the possibility of a casino there despite being shut out of Governor Deval Patick's recently-announced three casino plan for the state;
Staff writer Stephanie Siek's story about how Waltham city councilors have handed Mayor Jeannette McCarthy a significant setback in her efforts to open up the search for a new police chief to candidates from outside the city's Police Department;
Arts writer Denise Taylor's weekly column, which describes how one World War II Seabee's daughter from Newton is out to tell the story of when the Seabees landed on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945 for what would become the Corps' bloodiest campaign ever, and;
Correspondent Matt Gunderson report about how Maynard school officials are taking a hard look at joining a nearby regional district to help alleviate the financial burden, despite previous rejections from several surrounding communities.
For a complete listing of all of today's Globe West stories, visit the section online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:35 AM
September 19, 2007
REGION
Tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike east of Route 128 will be going up next year, an editorial in today's Globe states, the only question is how much.
To keep turnpike users from paying an unfair share of the burden, Governor Patrick and the Legislature ought to be ready to intervene to prevent the kind of steep increases that were discussed at a meeting of the Turnpike Authority board Monday, the editorial states.
The board yesterday ordered the staff to double-check its figures on the projected deficit and find new revenue sources from turnpike properties. The board also needs to make sure that its recurring personnel expenses are reasonable. Cohen ordered a freeze on "nonessential" hiring on Monday, but that's not enough. The authority needs to make sure that its health insurance and pension costs are in line with those of the rest of state government.
Changes in fringe benefits will not, however, affect the short-term toll problem. To deal with that, the board needs to make the case before the governor and Legislature that turnpike users are saddled with too large a share of Central Artery expenses. Beyond what toll payers kick in, the state also picks up $25 million of Central Artery cost a year, but that isn't enough, given both the maintenance and the bonding obligations.
Read the full editorial in the online edition of today's Globe.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:53 AM
September 17, 2007
REGION
Beverly's trying to be Zen about it, but the truth is, she's down on air travel. Which is tough because her husband is in the travel business.
How bad has it become? Well, without ruining the suspense, let's just say she's invoking the memory of the ill-fated Donner Party that got trapped in a snowbound pass the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1846 and had to resort to cannibalism to survive.
Listen to Beverly's column and more about the purgatory that is modern air travel in the latest installment of her podcast, "Coffee with Beverly."
-- Ralph Ranalli
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:12 AM
September 16, 2007
Older men like William Rose of Newton have the highest suicide risk in the state, officials say.
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)
REGION
Simply by virtue of his age, 93-year-old William Rose of Newton is at heightened risk of death. But the threat that came closest to taking his life was not old age, or illness. It was suicide.
According to the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention, men age 85 and older have the highest suicide rate in the state. So when Rose told his home healthcare aide that he was thinking of killing himself after his daughter died, she took it seriously.
Fortunately, Rose's aide, Elina Dubovsky, knew what to do. She had attended a program on how to help prevent suicide in seniors, offered by the Geriatric Institute of Jewish Family and Children's Services in Waltham, Globe West staff writer Stephanie Siek reports today.
The training offered helped Dubovsky recognize depression in her patients, including Rose.
The Geriatric Institute began running its suicide prevention program for the elderly last year, said Kathy Burnes, the institute's project manager. It's one of several programs aimed at translating research on the elderly into practical solutions to the problems of old age. The Jewish family services agency also runs a general mental health program, and one of the motivations in creating the geriatric suicide prevention program was the discovery that about 60 percent of the mental health clients were 55 or older.
The institute is nonsectarian and works with clients regardless of their religion. Its suicide prevention program, adapted from research and materials from Cornell University's Homecare Research Project, began by training agency home healthcare aides on how to recognize symptoms of depression in the seniors they cared for. The training was expanded to aides affiliated with two Boston agencies, Midtown Home Health Services and Kit Clark Senior Services. It also holds sessions to teach doctors and nurses how to train other healthcare workers. So far, the program has trained 400 home health aides, doctors, and nurses. The materials have been translated into Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese.
"The thing we're really trying to communicate is that depression is not a normal part of aging. It's a serious medical illness," Burnes said. "Seniors who have disability, medical illness, and pain are more likely to be depressed, but many are experiencing major depression for the first time in their lives, and this is not something that they'll get over [without help]."
Read more about the hidden problem of elder suicide in the online edition of today's Globe West.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 07:43 AM
September 16, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents bring you a wide variety of interesting stories from around the region today, including:
Bureau chief Erica Noonan's report about a ruling by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office that two members of Sherborn's Board of Selectmen | 
