EXTRA...

MA sues US over Gay Rights; Baker vs. Mihos vs Patrick vs Cahill; Cape woman arrested in Taunton parking lot; 1 in 7 MLB players from CCBL; Bugs eat Cape; Patrick Kennedy says he's sober

TODAY's quote:"Baker will now have plenty of time to sharpen his rhetorical skills and figure out an issue or two he can ride, just as Patrick smartly identified the property tax and Cape Wind as issues he could use to distinguish himself from the pack. I look forward to moderating the Baker/Mihos debate, and to watching this thoughtful, somewhat stiff non-politician try to evolve into a lightning rod for the public's palpable discontent." - Jon Keller, WBZ.

Charlie Baker For Governor? Keller's Analysis
Little-known candidate picks worst news week for annoucement

Is a President of a Health Care company the job description needed to beat Cape entrepreeur Christy Mihos?

Hmm. I can't imagine why someone so little known would want to use up one of their few guaranteed bursts of media attention by announcing their intention to run during one of the slowest news weeks of the year, but Baker is nothing if not green. And being green might not be a bad thing in the 2010 governor's race.

You certainly don't want to be tightly connected to a Beacon Hill establishment that - self-congratulation over their recent burst of long-overdue reforms notwithstanding - is not perceived as a pack of change-agents by a beleaguered electorate.

Baker is a bright fellow, no doubt about it, just like the current incumbent. And, like the incumbent, he's eager to show you how smart he is, even smarter than you are. He will need to work on his somewhat-imperious persona if he hopes to compete successfully for the votes of the disgruntled - both Christy Mihos and Tim Cahill have more experience doing that. Then again, so does Deval Patrick, who tapped into that vote quite successfully in 2006, but is now largely reviled by them... Jon Keller on WBZ.
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Christy Mihos welcomes competition

In a story on Baker's bid in today's Globe, Yarmouth's Christy Mihos is quoted saying, "I am not an institutional or an insider Republican.If that's what they want, they have Charlie. I'm an outsider, a populist Republican. We'll let the people see what they want."
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Rendezvous at Taunton parking lot ends in arrest for Cape Cod woman

Besides clothes, cell phones, MP3 players and GPS units, Taunton police discovered store gift cards, credit cards, check books and loose checks.

A Cape Cod woman could face multiple theft charges after police said they caught her Sunday trying to either sell or exchange merchandise for drugs. Nicole Petronelli, 23, of 1 Highland St., Wareham, was arrested by Taunton police at around 4:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the Cumberland Farms on Broadway, after cops say they saw her pick up a suspicious man seen walking out of Fairfax Gardens Housing Complex on DeWert Avenue.

When police caught up with her they discovered that the Nissan Titan she was driving - including the pickup truck's storage bed and its four-door crew cab seats - was brimming with trash bags filled with clothes and assorted other consumer items... Taunton Gazette.
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Massachusetts suing Feds for gay rights
Attorney General Martha Coakley claims the Defense of Marriage Act excludes married same-sex couples from ‘critically important rights and protections.'

State Attorney General Martha M. Coakley announced Wednesday that Massachusetts has filed a complaint against the U.S.government, claiming the federal Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and unconstitutional because it excludes thousands of married same-sex couples from "critically important rights and protections based on marital status."

The lawsuit, coupled with a similar suit filed in March by Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates&Defenders (GLAD), has upped the ante in the struggle for equal rights for gay and lesbian couples, according to same-sex marriage proponents.

The Defense of Marriage Act, approved by Congress in 1996, defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman, thus denying a range of federal benefits to married same-sex couples. Yet, gay marriage has been legal in Massachusetts -- the first state in the nation to recognize such unions -- since 2004, setting the stage for a clash between the commonwealth and the federal government.

"DOMA is a discriminatory law that unfairly penalizes same-sex couples and their families," said Coakley, a Berkshire County native, who held a press conference in Boston to announce the lawsuit. The Eagle listened to Coakley's remarks via live teleconference... Berkshire Eagle.
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Is Cape Cod being eaten away? Beetles bug pitch pines

It was dark when the Steinhausens arrived at their Harwich summer home last week, so they didn't notice the problem until the following morning.

Around 6:30 a.m., the retired schoolteachers from upstate New York headed out the back door with cups in hand to enjoy their morning Cape Cod summer ritual - coffee on the deck, sitting in companionable silence and looking across a yard rich with scrub pines. But they encountered an alien landscape... Standard-Times.
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The Cape Cod League: A rich history of baseball's best
One in seven players in MLB has played in the CCBL

CCBL alumni include Nomar Garciaparra, Robin Ventura, John Valentin, Frank Thomas, Mo Vaughn, Darin Erstad, Chuck Knoblauch and Mark Teixeira

It doesn't get much better than pulling up a folding chair along with your favorite beverage and an overstuffed sandwich while watching nine innings of baseball's stars of tomorrow beneath the clear skies of Cape Cod.

The Cape Cod League has been the most distinguished amateur baseball league in the States for the last 114 years. The best and most determined college baseball players yearn for the chance at playing for one of the ten clubs scattered throughout Massachusetts' lanky eastern arm.

And why wouldn't they? Just one glance at a list of alumni and the amount of professional players that have once called a Cape team their own are simply astounding... NESN.
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Rep. Kennedy optimistic he's on the road to sobriety
Finishes four week addiction treatment

Mr. Kennedy talks to Today: "In my case, I had been in rehab previously that winter for addiction to pain medication, for OxyContin. What I came to realize was that I had substituted Ambien and Phenergan, which was for my [upset] stomach,".

After a four-week course of addiction treatment, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy returned to Congress Wednesday with what he called "excellent" prospects for long-term sobriety - in large part because he sought help before he landed in the kind of trouble that has brought him notoriety in the past.

The Rhode Island Democrat declined to say whether his return to treatment was prompted by an incident of drinking or drug abuse. He rebuffed a number of direct questions about why he sought treatment, such as whether he had been impaired by alcohol or drugs while on the job.

But Kennedy stated emphatically that his decision to seek treatment was not prompted by any accidents or encounters with the police, illegal activity or embarrassing incidents of the kind that have marred his public record of about 20 years. "None of that at all," Kennedy declared...

Because he lives "a very fast-paced life and I have what is known as the disease of denial," Kennedy said, he cannot always see when he is in danger of taking a drink or abusing drugs. He said his "early warning system" of medical professionals and fellow recovering alcoholics directed him to "take a break and do some soul searching." He did so during a 28-day stay at Father Martin's Ashley, a Maryland center well-known in recovery circles. Kennedy completed the round of treatment last week and spent the Fourth of July weekend on Cape Cod with his ailing father, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and other family members... Providence Journal.