DiMasi urges spending on 'green jobs'

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi wants to spend $50 million over the next five years to spark the growth of so-called "green jobs" in Massachusetts. DiMasi says the money would provide grants for companies involved in renewable energy, help researchers develop environmentally friendly technologies, and train workers. DiMasi says the money would be redirected from two existing development funds and could generate more than 13,000 new jobs. (AP)

Mayor Thomas M. Menino is backing an effort to ban the sale of violent video games to minors. A bill cosponsored by state Representative Christine Canavan is scheduled to be heard today by the Legislature's Judiciary Committee. While video games are subject to a rating system, only those with strong sexual content are off-limits to minors. Menino's chief of human services, Larry Mayes, told the Boston Herald the mayor does not believe violent games should be sold to children under 17. But he conceded that achieving a ban will be an "uphill battle." (AP)

A Stoughton woman has been charged with attempted murder by prosecutors who say she ran over another female with her car behind Quincy High School Sunday night and leaving the scene afterward. Laura Benedetti, 18, is also facing numerous other charges, said David Traub, the Norfolk district attorney's spokesman. The victim, whose name and age were not released, was taken to Boston Medical Center for treatment. At her arraignment yesterday, a judge set Benedetti's bail at $2,500 and ordered her not to contact the victim. A woman who identified herself as Benedetti's mother said last night in a telephone interview that the family was devastated but had no further comment.

Harvard Law School plans to announce a program today that would waive tuition for third-year students who promise to work five years for nonprofit organizations or the government. The waiver is valued at $40,000 per student and could cost the law school an average of $3 million annually, The New York Times reports today. The program aims to address concerns raised by prosecutors, public defenders, and attorneys for nonprofits that the huge debt load of law school graduates is steering them into high-paying corporate law careers. From 2003 to 2006, the percentage of Harvard Law graduates who pursued government or nonprofit jobs ranged from 9.8 to 12.1 percent, the Times reports. Students will have to prove, before graduating, their commitment through clinical programs or special projects.

A 35-year-old New Marlborough man has been ordered held without bail after being charged with murder in the slaying of his mother. Rodney Ball pleaded not guilty yesterday in Southern Berkshire District Court in the death of Donna Agar, 55. The Berkshire district attorney said State Police found Agar's body in her New Marlborough home Sunday after being asked to check on her welfare. An autopsy is scheduled today. Court officials said Ball was ordered to return for a pretrial hearing April 24. (AP)

Ten states participating in a Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative said yesterday that they will hold a first-in-the-nation action of carbon dioxide allowances on Sept. 10. The six New England states plus New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware will hold quarterly auctions of the allowances, with two auctions before the states' cap-and-trade program begins Jan. 2, 2009. Pete Grannis, New York state's environmental commissioner and the chairman of the initiative, says that climate change is the most significant environmental problem of our generation and that the 10 states cannot wait for federal action. (AP)

Governor Jim Douglas has announced $209,000 in grants from the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation that will help 23 farms preserve historic barns. Douglas says the barns are important to agriculture and tourism in the state, since they still serve as key structures on farms and as attractions for photographers and other visitors. (AP)