EXTRA...

Patrick is nation's most powerful Governor; Sweatshop detainees at Bristol County House of Correction released; Middleboro wants the casino too

US judge halts the removal of more detainees from state
DSS, immigration agency ordered to sort out problem of left-behind children

A federal judge ordered immigration officials yesterday not to move out of state any of the remaining detainees from Tuesday's raid of a New Bedford sweatshop and to allow them access to lawyers.  Judge Richard G. Stearns also instructed the state Department of Social Services and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to work together to solve the problem of detainees who are mothers or primary caregivers and have been separated from their children. He ordered those agencies to give him a progress report by Tuesday...

Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday he was receiving more cooperation from immigration officials after several days of tensions over state officials' access to the detainees...  According to immigration officials, about 70 of the 361 workers detained Tuesday morning have been released . Ninety people are being held in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, at the Bristol County House of Correction , the Barnstable County House of Correction , and the Wyatt Federal Detention Center in Central Falls, R.I. There are 207 detainees in Texas, with 91 at the Port Isabel Service Processing Center in Harlingen and 116 at the El Paso Service Processing Center.

Eight minors were picked up during the raid. Three of them have been released, but the remaining five were taken to a facility in Miami...  Read the rest of this Globe story here.  Leave a comment
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Massachusetts governor rated most powerful
Beats out 49 other powerful chief executives

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick doesn't have the Hollywood celebrity of California's Arnold Schwarzenegger or the high profile of New York's Eliot Spitzer, but the newly elected Democrat bested both better-known colleagues in a yet-to-be-published ranking of governors' powers.

Patrick also edged out his peers in Alaska, Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia in the latest power rankings of state chief executives by University of North Carolina political science professor Thad L. Beyle (on right).

Schwarzenegger (R), a former bodybuilder and actor, and Spitzer (D), who made a name prosecuting unethical business practices on Wall Street, had larger-than-life reputations even before they landed in the governor's mansion, giving them political influence from the get-go. But other governors are helped - or hurt - by their own state constitutions and laws that influence how much power they wield...  Read the rest of this Stateline story here.  Leave a comment
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Courting Indian casino could put Middleboro in jam

MIDDLEBORO — An improvised map lay stretched across the selectmen's 25-foot meeting table on Thursday, taped together with parcels of land highlighted.  Town Manager John F. Healey was tight-lipped when asked to elaborate why he had pieced together a map of land along Middleboro's highways.

“We're selling land,” was about the only thing he'd reveal.  When pressured he said the map was tied to the town's interest in entering talks with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe about possibly building a casino in town.  Healey said Glenn Marshall, chairman of the Wampanoags, would “get back” to him regarding the town's invitation to initiate discussions about building in Middleboro, but the tribe is certainly ready to zero in on a location...  Read the rest of this Brockton Enterprise story here.