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New Bedford officials said Saturday they will step up efforts to convince the Mashpee Wampanoag Indians to build a casino in their city, despite an agreement by the tribe's backers to purchase land in nearby Middleborough as a possible casino site.

"They'd be taking the second best option," said New Bedford City Councilor David Alves.   Alves said he'll continue to aggressively market a 95-acre waterfront location as a spot for a casino.  "We're a welcome host for gaming, unlike many communities that have been untested," Alves said. "Middleborough has not said wholeheartedly that they'll take it."

The Mashpee Wampanoags received federal recognition as a tribe on Feb. 15, and tribal leaders want Gov. Deval Patrick and Beacon Hill lawmakers to pass legislation allowing them to build a casino...  Read the rest of this Telegram story here.  Leave a comment
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With makeover, Twin River tries to be more than the convenient casino

LINCOLN, R.I. — The gaming floor at Twin River casino is a mass of colors, lights and sound.  Thousands of video slot machines demand the attention of passers-by with flashing screens and digitized dinging. Sails cling to pillars surrounding a lighthouse that towers over the room, and a video of the rapper 50 Cent plays on a giant projection screen. It's cold, it's rainy and it's a Thursday, but the place seems about half full, and there's a long line for valet parking.

The recently opened expansion is a far cry from the casino's origins as the old Lincoln Park, the name it gave up this past March. With its chandeliers, balconies and stylized clouds and seagulls hanging from a high ceiling, it more closely resembles a room at Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun...  Read the rest og this Standard-Times story here.  Leave a comment
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Why Cape Cod insurance rates are so high:
Insurer says rates reflect real storm threat

John "Jack" Golembeski, 63, is the chief executive of the Massachusetts Fair Plan, the state's home insurer of last resort. The Fair Plan insures 41 percent of the homes on the Cape and islands, up from 3 percent in 2000. State regulators last August approved a 25 percent increase in the Fair Plan's base annual premium and another 25 percent increase is in the works. Golembeski spoke to Globe reporter Bruce Mohl.

Q Insurers say premiums are going up because of the threat of a hurricane hitting the Cape. Is the threat real?

A New England is due. It's not a matter of if; it's when.

Q Why are rates on the Cape going up so much faster than other coastal areas in the state?

A When modelers look at the Cape and the way the Cape is situated out in the ocean, it's almost like Florida. A storm coming into the Cape, even a moderate to a strong Category 3 storm, is going to do catastrophic damage. Insurers are unwilling to bet the survival of their companies on writing business in that coastal area.

Q As insurers withdraw from the Cape, what role does the Fair Plan play?

A We are a creature of government in partnership with the insurance industry to provide a safety valve for property insurance. Our operation does everything that a normal insurance company does, with one exception. We do not have a marketing department. We do not go out and solicit business. The business comes to us through independent insurance agents when they have no market with which to place the business.

Q What specifically is driving rates up on the Cape?   Read the rest of this Globe story here.   Leave a comment
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Some NH lawmakers support offshore wind turbines

Several New Hampshire state lawmakers say they support the possibility of locating windmill turbines off New Hampshire's coast to generate electricity, though with some reservations.  "I think it's a very important alternative and we clearly should explore it," said Sen. Martha Fuller-Clark, D-Portsmouth.

The lawmakers spoke with the Sunday Citizen recently, after HB 873 passed this month. The bill requires electricity providers to get a minimum percentage of their power from renewable resources. Fuller-Clark was among the bill's sponsors.
...New Hampshire has wind resources consistent with utility-scale production, with the best sites on land on ridge crests in the White Mountain region, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

There's more wind offshore, but the challenges a proposed wind project off Cape Cod is facing likely would apply to proposals off New Hampshire's coast, said Joseph Broyles, energy program manager with the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning...  Read the rest of this Foster's Daily story here.