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Boston, MA (AHN) - A rigid smoking ban proposed by Boston city officials has sparked public debates in the capital city of Massachusetts. The Boston Public Health Commission is set to implement soon a sweeping tobacco prohibition to cover bars, which were exempt from the 2004 smoking ban. Residents are asking where is the line between public safety and personal choice.Bar owners have protested the widening of the nicotine ban as it would kill their business. On the opposite end, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the Boston Public Health Commission has set 2025 as a target to achieve zero smoking...

Hearing October 23 On Proposed Massachusetts Spay/Neuter Mandate Would Devastate Purebred Dog Breeding Statewide by JOHN YATES American Sporting Dog Alliance http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org asda@csonline.net BOSTON – The Massachusetts legislature’s Joint Commission on Municipalities and Regional Government has set an October 23 hearing on House Bill 5092, which would destroy purebred dog breeding and ownership rights statewide. The American Sporting Dog Alliance is urging all Massachusetts dog owners to immediately contact members of the committee to voice strong opposition to this legislation, and also to attend the hearing if possible. The hearing is set for Thursday, October 23, at 10 a.m. in...

Armand Michaud was tending his pumpkin patch when he heard something eerie. "I heard like a pfffff, and I looked around, and I thought 'What the heck is that?'" he says. Then he saw a 2-foot crack in one of his giant pumpkins. "I could put my arm right up in it," he says. Michaud had just witnessed a bizarre phenomenon plaguing New England — exploding giant pumpkins. Each year, thousands of pumpkin growers compete to grow the biggest pumpkin the world has ever seen. Just last year, a world record was set by Joe Jutras of Rhode Island. His...

A federal court decision approving mandatory public school instruction for children as young as kindergarten in how to be homosexual is being allowed to stand, drawing a description of "despicable" from the parent who unsuccessfully challenged his school district's "gay" advocacy agenda. The U.S. Supreme Court without comment has refused to intervene in a case prompted by the actions of officials at Estabrook Elementary school in Lexington, Mass., who not only were teaching homosexuality to young children, but specifically refused to allow Christian parents to opt their children out of the indoctrination. The case on which WND has reported previously...

LYNN - A devastated national economy has sent Maine lobster prices spiraling downward as cash-strapped consumers cut back on seafood delicacies and fishermen wrestle with rising costs for bait and fuel. With off-the-boat prices as low as $2.60 a pound this week, some lobstermen say they’re ready to pursue different careers. Some dealers bracing for the loss reportedly are suggesting the lobstermen set fewer traps, which would create artificial scarcity and likely push prices upward.

NEW YORK -- Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is distantly related to the late Princess Diana and late U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, genealogy experts said on Wednesday. ... Palin and the late princess descended from John Strong and his wife Abigail Ford, Ancestry.com said. Strong was born around 1605 in England and emigrated to the United States, where he died in Massachusetts in 1699, Ancestry.com said. Palin and Roosevelt share ancestor John Lothrop, who was born in England in 1584 and also emigrated to America, where he died in Massachusetts in 1653, Ancestry.com said.

In Sainte-Mère-Eglise, a small town in the Normandy region of France, is Rue Robert Murphy, a street named in honor of the Roslindale lad who joined the Army at 17, parachuted there on D-day, and dedicated part of his life to maintaining the memory of the civilians and soldiers who died there on June 6, 1944.

About 50 off-duty police officers surrounded civilian flaggers directing traffic around a road project, heckling the workers as part of continued protests of the governor's new rules curbing paid police details at road projects. "I hope you sleep at night," shouted Stoneham Patrolman Joe Ponzo at the workers in neon vests and hardhats. "You should be ashamed of yourself -- you're union. This is a travesty." Off-duty officers from Arlington, Medford, Everett, and Woburn lined Lexington Street, a two-lane road where traffic backed up in both directions because of the protest. At one point, the workers for Mass. Highway had...

The Weather Underground did damage right here in Boston. On Sept. 23, 1970, BPD Officer Walter Schroeder was gunned down outside a Brighton bank that had just been robbed by five members of the Weather Underground. One of the terrorists opened fire on the cop. With bullets from a machine gun the group ripped off from a National Guard armory in Newburyport just weeks earlier, Schroeder was shot in the back and killed. Schroeder left behind a wife and nine children, aged 17, 15, 13, 10, 9, 7, 6, 2 and 11 months. The gunman, William “Lefty” Gilday, was captured...

A man whose original flight was delayed seven hours is facing disorderly conduct charges today because he allegedly sprayed fellow passengers with foot powder after landing in Boston. "This is what your airline gets for treating me bad," Arthur Nicolson allegedly yelled, according to a State Police report, as he shook a 7-ounce bottle of Dr. Scholl's Foot Powder on other travelers as he ran off the plane. The 42-year-old Framingham resident was arrested in Terminal A at Logan International Airport shortly after US Airways Flight 67 landed at 3:30 p.m. Nicolson had originally been booked the day before on...

Given the opportunity to get out of paying state income tax, who wouldn’t jump at the chance? Certainly Ruth Gregoire would. Ms. Gregoire, 71, a retired employee of a fire sprinkler company, dipped into chocolate ice cream at Swirls and Scoops and pronounced the no-tax idea “very nice.” Lakis Theoharis, 56, the owner of the nearby Pepperoni Express, said: “I’m for the repeal of the tax. To me, the smaller the government, the better for the citizens.” And Rich Masterson, 39, a trucking company supervisor, said, “I would love to see that!” That view is exactly what most state and...

... At Brandeis University in Massachusetts, professor Donald Hindley, on the faculty for 48 years, teaches a course on Latin American politics. Last fall, he described how Mexican migrants to the United States used to be discriminatorily called "wetbacks." An anonymous student complained to the administration accusing Mr. Hindley of using prejudicial language. It was the first complaint against him in 48 years. After an investigation, during which Mr. Hindley was not told the nature of the complaint, Brandeis Provost Marty Krauss informed Mr. Hindley that "The University will not tolerate inappropriate, racial and discriminatory conduct by members of its...

Looking down the barrel of an adNext Previous In a state known for liberal politics, perhaps the most iconic statement is the 252-foot billboard by Lansdowne Street overlooking the Mass. Pike. For the past 13 years, activist John Rosenthal has decorated the edifice with a series of direct, bold advertisements for gun control. The newest billboard (left), which was unveiled today, features a satirical gun show advertisement. Scroll through this gallery to see other ads that have emblazoned the billboard through the years.

Are You Illegally Possessing A Firearm in Violation of Massachusetts Law? By Peter Robbins Would it be considered a "contract" if a firearms identification (FID) card, which allows the bearer to own firearms, was issued that stated the valid period was "indefinite" or "until revoked"? A 2002 report released by the Commonwealth's House Post and Oversight Committee reported the state of Massachusetts failed to notify nearly 750,000 gun owners that their FID cards would prematurely expire due to the Massachusetts Gun Control Act of 1998. Did the 1998 law turn some of our law-abiding citizens into felons? These questions are...

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) -- The number of homeless families in Massachusetts has surged -- a spike that has overwhelmed the state's shelter capacity and forced it to again place homeless families in motels.

BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts state treasurer has asked the federal government about lending the state money under the same favorable terms given to banks and investment firms during the financial crisis. Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill’s requests last week to the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston were prompted by the state’s inability to borrow from the short-term debt markets, The Boston Globe reported on Saturday. The financial turmoil has caused credit markets to stop lending, or to charge prohibitive rates. California has made a similar request, saying it will run out of money by the end...

BOSTON (AP) -- The treasurer of Massachusetts has asked the federal government about lending Massachusetts money under the same favorable terms it has given banks and firms during the financial crisis. Treasurer Timothy Cahill's requests to the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston this week were prompted by the state's inability to borrow from the short-term debt markets, The Boston Globe reported Saturday. The financial turmoil has caused credit markets to stop lending, or to charge prohibitive rates. California has made a similar request, saying it would run out of money by the end of the month if...

I would urge someone close to members of the editorial board of the Boston Globe to let them know that the world is not flat, the moon is not made of green cheese, and Elvis is, indeed, dead. I say this because obviously the Boston Globe is way behind the times in discovering facts that debunk rumors and it’s clear they have no capacity to do any research. I mean, they must not be paying attention to reality because in today’s editorial, the Globe again raises the thoroughly debunked claim that Sarah Palin charged rape victims for their rape kits...

Islanders were outraged when a wealthy summer resident clear cut land last year next to an affordable housing development so he could land his helicopter. But another fight brewing on Martha's Vineyard is not about the excesses of the rich in their summer houses. This one pits year-round residents against one another. On one side is Bill Bennett, a Vineyard electronics contractor, who raised $1 million to buy land on the island's southern edge to build 11 houses costing $350,000 each - about half the island's median house price - so his employees and family can afford their first homes....

WASHINGTON — Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s. So did Frank’s partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions. Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had...

Are journalists playing favorites with some of the key political figures involved with regulatory oversight of U.S. financial markets? MSNBC’s Chris Matthews launched several vitriolic attacks on the Republican Party on his Sept. 17, 2008, show, suggesting blame for Wall Street problems should be focused in a partisan way. However, he and other media have failed to thoroughly examine the Democratic side of the blame game. Prominent Democrats ran Fannie Mae, the same government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) that donated campaign cash to top Democrats. And one of Fannie Mae’s main defenders in the House – Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., a recipient...

WASHINGTON — Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s. So did Frank’s gay partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions. Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which...

WASHINGTON — Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s. So did Frank’s partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions. Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had...

Angry police union members chased away MWRA workers in Everett and Revere today citing safety concerns in the first test of the state’s new rules on road details. In Everett, union members and reporters and cameramen surrounded a two-person crew from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority that showed up to perform routine maintenance inside a manhole at 11:30 a.m. After several conversations with union members, the MWRA crew left without doing any work. (continued)

Former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift was diplomatic, but her message was clear: because Sarah Palin remains doubtful of getting a fair shake from the MSM, she wants to take her message directly to the American people. Swift, speaking on behalf of the McCain-Palin campaign, made the remark in response to a question from this NewsBuster during the course of a conference call this afternoon. Swift took the question after making opening remarks in which she said that Governor Palin won last night's debate in part because she was able to connect with Americans as "a person from the middle class...

Last night after the debate the McCain/Palin headquarters was vandalised. Someone threw a rock at the front window of the Worcester office on 149 Highland Street. The window was severely cracked and the police are being called upon to investigate. This action is very disappointing and I would hope the Democratic Party would condemn it.

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Kerry's donation of $1 million from his campaign account to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee saying the Massachusetts' junior senator is more concerned with partisan politics than with resolving the financial crisis that threatens the financial future of his constituents. Beatty says he has called upon Kerry to return $111,000 in campaign contributions he took from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEOs and employees or to donate that money to a fund for Massachusetts families in need who are having difficulty paying their adjustable mortgages. The full Beatty release is below; Beatty: Kerry has $1 million for partisan politics, but...

The headline on the Boston Globe-Democrat’s editorial page, “Wasilla Made Rape Victims Pay,” says it all. All wrong. The Globe-Democrat yesterday asserted as fact that “during her tenure as mayor of Wasilla, the town started charging rape victims or their insurers for rape kits.” But the truth is that there is no record of a rape victim ever being charged for a rape kit by Wasilla; there’s no evidence Mayor Palin knew about the policy or took any action on it either way; and no record of a victim’s insurance company being charged by the town. How does an alleged...

The Boston Herald is one of the first newspapers out of the gate with an endorsement in the presidential race -- and their money's on John McCain. The newspaper's endorsement Tuesday described the Republican presidential nominee as an experienced leader "who is steady in the face of crisis, mature in judgment and able to reach across the aisle to break the gridlock that has for too long gripped Washington." As the economy takes center stage in the presidential campaign, McCain has lost ground in recent national and battleground polls. But the Herald said McCain has the "courage" to make necessary...

The family of a Jamaica Plain woman crushed to death in the 2006 Big Dig ceiling collapse will collect more than $28 million ... A spokesman for the Turnpike, Mac Daniel, said, "The tunnel collapse in 2006 was the result of a colossal failure of oversight by past administrations..." Investigations of the collapse showed that a string of failures - and, in some instances what authorities said was negligence - caused the collapse ... Concrete panels weighing 26 tons fell from the ceiling after the failure of bolts that had been secured with epoxy. The National Transportation Safety Board faulted,...

Another sobering start to an exceedingly sobering week - but one which points to the need for a political leader who is steady in the face of crisis, mature in judgment and able to reach across the aisle to break the gridlock that has for too long gripped Washington. That man is Sen. John McCain and at this critical moment in history, this paper is pleased to endorse his candidacy for president of the United States. McCain won a lot of hearts and minds around here in 2000, and we can’t help but wonder how history might have been different...

GOP Resurgence Predicted Published On 9/30/2008 1:24:04 AM By ERIC P NEWCOMER Contributing Writer The Massachusetts Republican party is “alive and well” and “poised to take the governorship in two years,” said former Massachusetts Governor A. Paul Cellucci last night while speaking for a joint event held by the Harvard Republican Club and the Harvard Law Republicans. Cellucci, who is also the former U.S. ambassador to Canada, spoke for a little over an hour in Emerson Hall in an event attended by students from colleges throughout the Boston area. His remarks hit on the current presidential race, the state of...

With all the turmoil in financial markets in the wake of a defeated federal government bailout package, hyperbole is running at high levels. Take former presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Kerry appeared on FOX News Channel’s Sept. 29 “The O’Reilly Factor” and commended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for her efforts garnering Democratic votes in the House. He lambasted the Republicans members for not voting ‘yes’ on the proposed $700 billion bailout. “Let me tell you something. She [Pelosi] summoned a supermajority,” Kerry said. “Sixty percent plus voted for this. The Republicans had a super-supermajority – almost veto proof...

Barney Frank feeling heat in crisis Critics: Why didn’t power pol act sooner? Jessica Van Sack By Jessica Van Sack Monday, September 29, 2008 - Added 2h ago Jessica Van Sack is the Herald's Boston police bureau chief covering crime and justice. She works out of City Hall where you can send tips to jvansack@bostonherald.com. As chairman of the House Financial Services panel, Rep. Barney Frank has been working frantically to get President Bush’s $700 billion bailout of Wall Street passed - a controversial position that has some critics questioning why the powerful Massachusetts Democrat didn’t do more before the...

'THE PRIVATE SECTOR got us into this mess. The government has to get us out of it." That's Barney Frank's story, and he's sticking to it. As the Massachusetts Democrat has explained it in recent days, the current financial crisis is the spawn of the free market run amok, with the political class guilty only of failing to rein the capitalists in. The Wall Street meltdown was caused by "bad decisions that were made by people in the private sector," Frank said; the country is in dire straits today "thanks to a conservative philosophy that says the market knows best."...

A few weeks ago, I helped my 18-year-old sister move into her freshman dorm at Hillsdale College in Michigan. I was anxious for her -- I worried that the female culture at her school would be similar to that at my own alma mater, Tufts University in Medford, Mass. As a reserved evangelical from Colorado Springs, Colo., I was shocked by a lot of things at Tufts when I entered in the fall of 2003. What shocked me more than anything, however, was the way women treated other women. I regularly heard young women refer to each other using the...

Tewksbury may be a picturesque New England town, but a fight over a pig farm's stench has the community in an uproar, frustrating public officials and turning neighbors into bitter enemies. Today, one of the largest pig farms in the state sits in the midst of a growing suburban community of 30,000. Pigs live in neighborhoods where sport utility vehicles rule and backyard swimming pools are increasingly the norm. At Krochmal Farm, named for farmers who tilled the land generations ago, more than 900 pigs live in a barn perched atop a 500,000 gallon manure pit, all of which sits...

Democratic House Financial Services Committee Chair promoted GSEs while former 'spouse' was Fannie Mae executive. Are journalists playing favorites with some of the key political figures involved with regulatory oversight of U.S. financial markets? MSNBC’s Chris Matthews launched several vitriolic attacks on the Republican Party on his Sept. 17, 2008, show, suggesting blame for Wall Street problems should be focused in a partisan way. However, he and other media have failed to thoroughly examine the Democratic side of the blame game. Prominent Democrats ran Fannie Mae, the same government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) that donated campaign cash to top Democrats. And one...

“I want [Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae] to help with affordable housing, to help low-income families get loans and to help clean up this subprime mess. Otherwise, why should they exist?” - Rep. Barney Frank, earlier this month. The Subprime Panic of ’08 and its $1 trillion (and rising!) price tag is too big to blame on any one man. But if we had to, it would be Newton’s own Rep. Barney Frank. As Winston Churchill might have put it, never before has one man done so much that was so wrong, or shafted so many on behalf of so...

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), continued the political farce in Washington regarding the financial industry troubles by doing what politicians do best in a crisis: pointing their fingers at anyone but themselves. They allege that the mortgage market collapse, financial industry blow up and yesterday's AIG bailout announcement, are all indicative of "bad" Republican policies, and years of Bush White House failure to properly supervise and regulate the free markets. The White House has been shown no real leadership on the issue but Congress has more to answer for than President Bush. Frank and Pelosi,...

Sen. Ted Kennedy, who has been undergoing treatment for a malignant brain tumor, was taken to a hospital near his Cape Cod vacation home after complaining of feeling ill Friday. But his condition was not described as serious. Sen. John Kerry, Kennedy's Massachusetts colleague, told FOX News the Democratic senator plans to return home to watch the presidential debate Friday night. Kerry said he spoke with Kennedy and that he was in good spirits. Kennedy arrived at the Cape Cod hospital "conscious and alert," according to a source close to the situation.

Frank tells of his despair during ’89 sex scandal Says he sought psychiatrist's help By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff August 14, 2004 US Representative Barney Frank acknowledged yesterday that for a brief time in 1989 he saw a psychiatrist and took antidepressant medication as he battled allegations from a gay prostitute and companion who had operated a sex-for-hire ring in the congressman's home. ''I was pretty dysfunctional for five or six weeks," Frank said in a brief interview, referring to the scandal that drew national attention and opened up his private sexual life to public scrutiny. The 64-year-old congressman said...

(AP) Governor Patrick says there's a real possibility that people in America could freeze to death this winter due to the soaring cost of home heating fuel. Patrick met with members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation on Capitol Hill and later testified before a House panel on the need for heating aid in cold-weather states. Patrick said the cost of heating a home -- whether by electricity, gas or oil -- is expected to cost between 20 and 31 percent more than a year ago. He said that will have an impact on many families, and not just those who...

Massachusetts residents got a shock when state officials, at the peak of construction on the Big Dig project, disclosed that the price tag had ballooned to nearly $15 billion. But that, it turns out, was just the beginning. graphic Cost of the project Spiral of Big Dig debt Now, three years after the official dedication of the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel, the state is reeling under a legacy of debt left by the massive project. In all, the project will cost an additional $7 billion in interest, bringing the total to a staggering $22 billion, according to a Globe review...

BULLETIN TROPICAL STORM KYLE ADVISORY NUMBER 1 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL112008 500 PM AST THU SEP 25 2008 ...LOW PRESSURE AREA FINALLY DEVELOPS INTO A TROPICAL CYCLONE... INTERESTS IN BERMUDA SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF KYLE. FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE. REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT AND SATELLITE IMAGES INDICATE THAT THE LOW PRESSURE AREA THAT MOVED NORTHWARD FROM HISPANIOLA HAS DEVELOPED INTO A TROPICAL STORM. AT 500 PM AST...2100Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM KYLE WAS LOCATED NEAR...

I was talking politics with an attorney recently who, pondering the possible outcomes of the Obama-McCain election, sighed “I can’t wait ’til this is over.” “Are you kidding?” I replied. “I haven’t had this much fun doing talk radio since Bill met Monica under a White House desk!” “Yeah, well, your job is different,” he answered. And he’s right. Partisan politics is a talk show host’s bread and butter. But for my attorney friend, workplace debates about the presidential race had become so common - and so heated - that a recent conference meeting he attended began with a warning...

BOSTON—A federal bankruptcy judge who resigned after his drunken driving arrest has a new job. Robert Somma has been hired by the Boston law firm of Posternak Blankstein & Lund as a senior counsel in the firm's bankruptcy department. Somma rear-ended a pickup truck at a red light in Manchester, N.H. on Feb. 6 while wearing a cocktail dress and high heels. He resigned from the bench a few days after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and paying a fine.