EXTRA...

Factory Outlet Mall to be redone; The dream of a Cape Verdean Cultural Center is here at last; Our turtles recovering in Maine

Investors eye Factory Outlet Mall for makeover

SAGAMORE - A group of investors plans to buy the Cape Cod Factory Outlet Mall and old Windmill Motel in Sagamore just off Route 6, renovate the entire complex, add parking, enhance aesthetics and reconfigure Factory Outlet Road.

Hyannis attorney Patrick Butler last week said Compass Realty is closing the sale of the mall, which includes part of the old Cape Cod Coca-Cola Bottling plant dating to 1937, to High Rock Rock Factory Outlet Road 1, LLC...  Bourne Courier.  
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Preserving the past, building the future
The dream of a Cape Verdean Cultural Center is here at last

ONSET -  The dream of a Cape Verdean Cultural Center at the Oak Grove School is close to coming true. After a few false starts and plenty of changes to the plans, the committee behind the proposal is preparing to bring it in front of selectmen in February.

The project will add a wing to the Oak Grove School in Onset that will closely mirror the historic structure’s architectural style. The center will house not only a treasure trove of Cape Verdean culture, but also the story of Cape Verdeans and their contributions to the region. There are also plans to include a conference room for visiting dignitaries as well as classes about Cape Verdean language and culture... When the town repossessed the site in 2000 for back taxes, it partnered with the Cape Cod Child Development Program to rehabilitate the site for use as a Head Start program...  Wareham Courier. 
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Cape's endangered Sea Turtles To Be Rehabilitated In Maine

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Eight endangered sea turtles have arrived in Maine as part of their rehabilitation after washing up on shore in Massachusetts.  Seven Kemp's-Ridley turtles and one green sea turtle were brought to the University of New England's Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center on Friday from the New England Aquarium in Boston. While in Biddeford, they will undergo rehabilitation for several months before they are pronounced fit enough to be released into the wild...

The turtles were found washed ashore on Cape Cod in November. The New England Aquarium said that turtles wash ashore each year after turning hypothermic when the waters turn cold...  WMTM-TV. 

 

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11,281 dead deer; That Obama-Kennedy hug; Local property tax bills soar; Hyannisport is a ghetto?

   Not a good day for a swim

This shot, taken Monday looking east from Corporation Beach in Dennis, shows the rough, post-nor'easter Bay waters and the headlands of East Dennis. Photo by Kevin Morley.

Cape and Islands dig out from near-blizzard
80 cars, 6 trucks in line, 24 hour wait for ferry

"It's hard, we wanted to go home," said Kathy Molloy, who was returning home Sunday to Nantucket with her 9-year-old daughter Kelli after a precision skating competition in Virginia.HYANNIS -- Hundreds of weary and frustrated travelers flooded ferry docks on Cape Cod early this afternoon, trying to find a way home to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket after a severe Northeaster dumped nearly a foot of snow.

The wait for vehicles was estimated to be 24 hours at the Nantucket ferry's Hyannis terminal with 80 cars and six trucks in line, according to The Steamship Authority's website. There were no waits for the Martha's Vineyard ferry out of Woods Hole, but mechanical issues cancelled two Vineyard boats this morning, adding to the storm's blustery aftermath. The Steamship Authority did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment...  Globe. 
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Snow helps heat up deer season’s numbers
2,848 bagged in Cape Cod area

A respectable mid-December snowstorm rescued the 2007 deer hunting season, drawing muzzleloader fans into the woods in droves, giving them the second-best season ever and resuming an upward trend in hunting with the challenging single-shot primitive firearm that began a decade ago...

A total of 11,281 deer were taken during the hunting season, including 149 shot during the controlled hunt at the Quabbin Reservoir, according to preliminary numbers released by the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. The storm helped boost harvest numbers about 6 percent over the 2006 season, but well below the state’s record harvest of 12,417 in 2002.

For the second successive hunting season, the most deer overall — 2,848 — were taken in the southeastern part of the state between routes 128 and 1A and the Cape Cod Canal. Central Massachusetts hunters followed closely, bagging 2,775 deer... Telegram. 
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The Kennedy Endorsement

The midday Washington rally at which Ted, Caroline, and Patrick Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama may not have enough political weight to change the outcome of the primaries. What it definitely did have was a huge supply of political irony.
First, the candidate whose entire campaign is premised on the need to “turn the page,” who defines the contest as one “between the past and the future,” received the blessing of the political figure most solidly identified with a storied past. Ted Kennedy was elected to the United States Senate in 1962, when Barack Obama was 15 months old. He remains, after 45 years in the Senate, the “last liberal lion,” the embodiment of a kind of Democrat anchored in a New Deal-Fair Deal-New Frontier-Great society era...  CBS/Jeff Greenfield.  

Preppy, sure. But who cares?
Columbia grads live up to the hype with 'Upper West Side Soweto'
and "Hyannisport is a ghetto / Out of Cape Cod tonight"

Internet forums and music blogs have the ability to build up a new band before it even releases a full-length album. The result is typically a crushing disappointment; an album rarely living up to the expectations. From that point forward, said band will forever be referred to in causal conversation as "a product of the hype machine."

Remarkably, Vampire Weekend has avoided this catastrophe...

On the singsong "Walcott," Koenig declares, "The bottleneck is a shit show / Hyannisport is a ghetto / Out of Cape Cod tonight." This kind of unabashed hipster ethos has led some to loathe the band from the start. But it would be far too easy to be put off by this kind of haughtiness. Trash-talking the land of the rich isn't arrogant if you're one of them - it's irony... Michigan Daily. 
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Local property tax bills have soared
Chatham's increase smallest at 24%

Think you're property tax bill has risen dramatically in the past few years?

It probably has.

A new state report shows that the average single-family tax bill increased 48 percent between 2000 and 2007...  Among larger communities in Eastern Massachusetts, Everett (100 percent increase) and Woburn (79 percent), both just north of Boston, saw the biggest increases. Meanwhile, Chatham, at the elbow of Cape Cod, experienced the smallest increase, 24 percent...  Sun Chronicle.
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Vampire Weekend's African Transfusion
Its calling-card track is "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"

Long story short: After graduating from Columbia, the men of Vampire Weekend began cobbling together their debut, a giddy indie pop album with an African backbeat. They dubbed their style "Upper West Side Soweto" (because they're clever like that -- and because they couldn't let poor Paul Simon have this one thing). They then foisted it on a grateful blogosphere, which proceeded to anoint Vampire Weekend the next big thing before their first full-length was even released... 

Informed by ska, calypso, Men's Vogue, Talking Heads and low-budget horror flicks -- and fortified by organs and various classical fillips -- "Vampire Weekend" is sui generis. Its calling-card track, "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," is a preppies-go-to-Africa charmer that acknowledges its own inherent weirdness ("It feels so unnatural/Peter Gabriel too"). Like most of "Vampire Weekend," it's bouncy and driven by bongo-like island drums, though whether the island is Madagascar or Nantucket, it's hard to say...  Washington Post. 

 

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Cape and Islands battered by ocean storm; Kennedy spurns Clinton plea; UK to build 12,500 wind farms

Cape and Islands battered by ocean storm
A foot of the white stuff in Sandwich - Schools closed

HARWICH - Residents of Cape Cod and the Islands are digging out from up to a foot of heavy, wet snow.  While most of Massachusetts was spared, an ocean storm delivered a winter blast along the state’s southern coast. Blowing and drifting snow created hazardous driving conditions in the area, resulting in a number of skidding accidents.

Route 6 was down to one lane by late Sunday night, with speeds reduced to 25 to 30 mph. State police also reported treacherous conditions on Route 195 in southeastern Massachusetts. Ferry service between Cape Cod and Nantucket was canceled Sunday. t midnight, East Sandwich was reporting a foot of snow on the ground...   Herald.  
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Ted Kennedy Chooses Obama, Spurning Bill Clinton Plea


Hillary & Ted went for a sail last summer on Nantucket Sound.BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Senator Edward M. Kennedy, rejecting entreaties from the Clintons and their supporters, is set to endorse Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid on Monday as part of an effort to lend Kennedy charisma and connections before the 22-state Feb. 5 showdown for the Democratic nomination. 

Both the Clintons and their allies had pressed Mr. Kennedy for weeks to remain neutral in the Democratic race, but Mr. Kennedy had become increasingly disenchanted with the tone of the Clinton campaign, aides said. He and former President Bill Clinton had a heated telephone exchange earlier this month over what Mr. Kennedy considered misleading statements by Mr. Clinton about Mr. Obama, as well as his injection of race into the campaign.  Mr. Kennedy called Mr. Clinton Sunday to tell him of his decision...   New York Times. 
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Workers urged to join casino push at legislative breakfast

DARTMOUTH — Local workers alarmed by the state's unemployment rate and a struggling national economy shared their concerns with elected officials Saturday at UMass Dartmouth's annual Legislative Breakfast.

"If we don't get ahead of this, we might have casinos without the state getting any money." - Lt. Gov. Tim MurrayPaid sick days, affordable higher education and training for health care workers topped the agenda at the breakfast, where about a dozen SouthCoast labor unions listened to speeches made by UMass staff and members of Gov. Deval Patrick's administration.  But plans for three potential casinos dominated the discussion....  Standard-Times.
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Britain will need 12,500 wind farms to satisfy EU targets
Nation to supply half its energy with renewables in 12 years

A rapid and vast expansion of renewable energy is on the way in Britain to help with the fight against climate change, it was revealed yesterday. In a mere dozen years, the amount of UK electricity generated by renewable technologies such as wind, wave and tidal power will have to reach nearly half the national total, under ambitious plans put forward by the European Commission in Brussels.

The remarkable eight-fold expansion, from today's 5 per cent to about 40 per cent by 2020, or even more, represents a true energy revolution comparable in scale to the arrival of North Sea oil.

Most of it will have to be delivered by wind energy, especially offshore, as wind is the most developed technology available.  The number of wind turbines on land in Britain is likely to grow from just under 2,000 now to 5,000, according to the British Wind Energy Association. But the really substantial increase will be in offshore wind, with turbines installed in the seas around Britain's coasts likely to increase from just under 150, to about 7,500...  The Independent/UK. 

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Immigration impasse will hurt tourism; US imports 70% of fish it eats; A new sheriff in town

Seasonal worker shortage threatens regional tourism
Immigration impasse limits visa program

Cape Cod to feel the same pressure when warm weather hits. Hotels, restaurants, retail shops, and landscaping businesses ..In the midst of the snowiest winter in recent memory, Vermont ski resorts are being strained by a shortage of foreign workers who for years have cleaned rooms, taught lessons, and filled other seasonal jobs. The shortfall, caused by cutbacks in the number of work visas issued, is an unexpected consequence of the standoff in Congress over immigration reform...

Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard expect to feel the same pressure when warm weather hits. Hotels, restaurants, retail shops, and landscaping businesses on the Cape and islands rely on an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 workers from Jamaica, Bulgaria, Brazil, Poland, Russia, and other economically depressed countries, who come to the US on temporary H-2B visas to bolster the workforce during the busiest season...  Globe. 
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A $1 million thank-you
Cape Cod native gives back to her alma mater

A local woman and native of Cape Cod committed $1 million to Bridgewater State College as part of her estate plan and separately set up a scholarship program for students from Cape Cod.  Carolyn (VanBuskirk) Turchon, who graduated with a bachelors' degree in education from Bridgewater in 1962, did not designate a purpose for her $1 million deferred donation, but said yesterday that she would. If a purpose isn't dedicated, the money will go into the college's endowment fund, the college said.

"I'm thanking the college now for what I've received over the years and investing in the students who come along for the future of the college," said Turchon, a Natick resident. "I value my education ... All the benefits you get from education compound over the years - it gets better and better"...  MetroWest. 
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OUR OPINION - A new sheriff in town

The counties would no longer have to carry the burden of the so-called ‘‘maintenance of effort’’ payments... In nearby Barnstable County, the payment is $2.3 million. Gov. Deval Patrick’s plan for the state to take over the remaining seven sheriff departments still run by counties is one that makes fiscal and administrative sense in adding cost certainty to budget planning and providing a level playing field for all correctional facilities and sheriff’s offices.

While some county officials are wary that the proposal is a precursor to ending county government - and we can only hope it is - the measure is a common sense attempt to take the volatility out of the annual funding dance, while still keeping a sheriff elected by and accountable to the county voters.

The legislation is aimed at Plymouth, Norfolk, Bristol, Barnstable, Suffolk, Nantucket and Dukes counties, which struggle annually to avoid running in the red while the other seven counties, already under state control, are free to do what they were meant to do - provide safe and secure correctional facilities and administer community support programs.   Patriot Ledger. 
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U.S. lags in marine agriculture;
Can South Coast capitalize on this market?

With all the federal and state money that has been doled out to help commercial fishermen sustain the unsustainable practice of overfishing, public and private entities should instead invest in the future.  Pols should openly endorse and support Cape Wind
By AILEEN LUBOLD, Oak Bluffs
     Offshore wind offers an immediate, clean, safe and effective answer to both global warming and energy security...
From local jobs to clean energy, this project is right for America and right for the Cape... Massachusetts politicians should openly endorse and support Cape Wind, and see that Massachusetts breaks ground on this project as soon as possible.  Patriot LedgerOne way it can do that is for Massachusetts and the federal government to partner with private entrepreneurs and develop fish farms and other aquaculture...

Why not the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, UMass Dartmouth and all the Boston-area colleges that offer programs in marine technology? Think of the potential for aquaculture incubators and spin-off firms from the aquaculture research at Woods Hole and Buzzards Bay...  Standard-Times. 

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We're one of the 100 best US communities; Bus riders "Flex" their muscle over cut-back; Ed Smith's 90th birthday party; Wind farm one of P.E.I.'s most popular sights

Barnstable Named One of the 2008 100 Best Communities for Young People
Competition identifies best places in America for young people to live and grow up

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The America’s Promise Alliance (the Alliance) and Capital One today announced the winners of the 2008 100 Best Communities for Young People (100 Best) competition which identifies cities and towns nationwide that have made the well-being of children and youth a top priority.  The citation read;

Ed Smith's thirty-three thousandth day
Oracle founder turns 90 today and the Lower Cape plans a birthday bash at the Brewster VFW on Freeman's Way from 3-7, you're invited."Barnstable County is one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People, in part, because of the Cape and Islands District Attorney's Youthful Diversion Program. Created in response to widespread concern about the effects of underage substance abuse, the effort is an innovative model that works with first-time young adult offenders between the ages of 17-21 by offering."   
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Flex supporters: Keep those buses rolling

EASTHAM - Vowing to make their voices heard loud and clear at the State House in Boston, passengers and advocates of the FlexRoute public bus system crammed into Eastham Town Hall Thursday for the first of three public hearings on service reductions and fare hikes proposed by the financially strapped Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority. They pledged to inundate the governor’s office with letters, e-mails and phone calls stating their opposition to terminating the bus service due to a lack of state funding.

“There’s strength in numbers! We can’t lose the Flex. Boston has to come through for us,” Eastham Selectwoman Carol Martin told the crowd of about 100 people, who applauded her enthusiasm...  The Cape Codder. 
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Wind Farm is a Top 10 Attraction on Prince Edward Island
North Cape wind farm is fourth most popular on Toronto Star's list

1. GREENWICH, P.E.I. NATIONAL PARK (ST. PETERS)  Parks Canada protects a rare system of sand dunes and sites of early aboriginal and Acadian occupation dating back 10,000 years.
2. COLLEGE OF PIPING AND CELTIC PERFORMING ARTS OF CANADA (SUMMERSIDE)  A summer-long Celtic Festival.
3. CONFEDERATION TRAIL  From Tignish in the west to Elmira in the east, the Confederation Trail is a 270-kilometre recreational park, ideal for walking, running or cycling.
4. NORTH CAPE  View the longest natural rock reef, walk the Black Marsh Nature Trail, visit the Atlantic Wind Test Site and see the North Cape wind farm...  Toronto Star. 
   

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Last plane leaves Otis; Patrick's State of the State

Otis sees its last landing
From Cold War to 9/11, a unit that stood ready stands down

OTIS AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE - They escorted Soviet planes during the Cold War, intercepted cocaine shipments during the 1990s, and were the first on the scene in New York after word came that two planes were hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001.  But 35 years after beginning a mission of round-the-clock protection of the Eastern Seaboard, the Air National Guard's 102d Fighter Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod flew its last mission yesterday. A commemorative flight of two F-15 Eagles marked the occasion.

"It's been a long, great history," said Edward Mansfield, 71, as he watched the F-15s bank over a crowd of spectators and guardsmen.  Mansfield flew the first scramble when the 102d went operational with its protection mission in 1973. He wanted to be there yesterday so he could see the last...   Globe. 
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Governor Deval Patrick's speech to the joint legislature last night

For a year now, I have attended the funerals of Massachusetts servicemen and –women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each occasion is profoundly moving. Most of the time the lost soldier, sailor or marine is young. In some cases there is a girlfriend; or a young widow, on one or two of those occasions with a baby the fallen soldier has never even held. You cannot escape the youth: the disbelief of childhood buddies that their friend could be gone so soon; the utter tragedy of parents having to bury a child just entering his or her prime. Still, there is a remarkable lack of bitterness among the families. Only loss and grief and an understanding unspoken that service and sacrifice is sometimes necessary."One generation. One generation and the circumstances of my life and family were profoundly transformed. That story is not unlike many of yours in this room or elsewhere in this Commonwealth. And though that story is still not told often enough still, it is told more often in this country than any other place on earth. That is the American Story...

So, the state of our Commonwealth is strong, and the evidence of that strength is tangible. My goodness, even the Red Sox, the Celtics and the Patriots are on fire...  

Let’s start promoting efficiency, renewables, cheaper electricity, and new jobs in a hot new growth sector by passing the Energy Bill.

Let’s connect the whole state to the world of ideas and commerce, and jumpstart the economies in western and central Massachusetts, by passing the Broadband Bill.

And with 20 thousand good permanent jobs, 30 thousand construction jobs, a $2 billion boost to our tourism industry, property tax relief for 1 million households, and a steady reliable stream of revenue for cities, towns and the state within our grasp, let’s work together to pass the Resort Casinos bill...

Let’s be both tough and smart on crime:

• +Tough by limiting illegal access to guns and keeping high-threat gun offenders off the streets;
• Smart by supervising and supporting the 97% of inmates who eventually return to society, and by using CORI information wisely instead of haphazardly. Let’s work together to pass an effective Anti-Crime Package this spring.

Goodbye Sheriff
Gov. Deval Patrick also proposed moving the state's seven remaining county-run sheriff's offices into state government. If approved by the Legislature, the proposal would affect Barnstable, Dukes, Nantucket, Bristol, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk counties.  ...And finally, let’s give our cities and towns the tools they need to keep property taxes down and to provide the services our neighbors want by passing the Municipal Partnership Act in full...

There is a whole generation watching and waiting -- some tonight perhaps -- to see whether we see our stake in their future – and act like it. And I say let them look to us – to you and to me – and let us affirm their hope for tomorrow in the actions we take today.

Thank you. God bless you all, and God bless the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."  Read the entire text below.
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The State House, Boston, January 24, 2008, Governor Deval Patrick;
Lieutenant Governor and Constitutional Officers, Madame President, Mr. Speaker and all of the Members of the Legislature, Chief Justice and Members of the Judiciary, Members of the Cabinet who are here, Elected Officials, Reverend Clergy, Distinguished guests, And above us all, the People of the Massachusetts.

Thank you all for being together tonight.

At the outset, and on behalf of the People of Massachusetts, let us all thank the members of the military from Massachusetts serving so honorably in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are proud of you and humbled by your service. On a personal note, Diane and I want to thank the People of Massachusetts for the extraordinary kindnesses and support you have shown us on a personal level. I’ll never forget it. It is an honor to serve you.

Our youngest daughter graduated from high school this past spring. And when I sat at her graduation, swollen with pride like every other parent, I couldn’t help but reflect on the difference between her journey to that milestone, and my own to a similar milestone more than 30 years before.

You know my story. I grew up in poverty on the south side of Chicago. I went to broken and over-crowded schools. I can’t think of a time when I didn’t enjoy reading, but I don’t ever remember actually owning a book. I got my own bed for the first time in my life when I came east on a scholarship to a boarding school in 1970. In that and so many other ways, coming to Massachusetts was like landing on a different planet.

Now Katherine, by contrast, has always had her own room. By the time she got to high school, she had already traveled on three continents, she knew how to pronounce and use a “concierge,” and she had shaken hands in the White House with the President of the United States.

Diane and I talked easily and comfortably with our kids about college when the time came and organized visits for them to campuses all over the country. When I called home 35 years ago to tell my family I was admitted to Harvard, my grandmother asked, “Where is that, anyway?”

One generation. One generation and the circumstances of my life and family were profoundly transformed. That story is not unlike many of yours in this room or elsewhere in this Commonwealth. And though that story is still not told often enough still, it is told more often in this country than any other place on earth. That is the American Story.

For most of us, that story was made possible by a good education, great opportunities to work and develop our skills, and adults who involved themselves in our lives in key moments and ways.

That is our agenda: schools, jobs and civic engagement. That’s what will make the American Story real again in this Commonwealth.

So, in 2007, we started to connect those aspirations to actions, and our actions to people. We are off to a very strong start. Massachusetts is on the move.

Last year we increased support for local schools by the highest amount in history. Because we also invested in pre-K, all-day kindergarten and longer school days, over 43 thousand children got the lifetime benefit of a strong academic start, and 9 thousand students had more time with teachers for both core studies and enrichment programs. We added millions for science, technology, engineering and math grants, as well, to start giving our kids the skills they need to excel in tomorrow’s global economy.

And our students are responding. Last year Massachusetts students took top scores in all four categories measured on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the so-called “national report card.” My friends, Massachusetts is on the move.

We improved the conditions for robust economic growth.

We cut approval time for state permits from two to three years to just six months for most new development projects.

We joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and launched new biofuels and green building standards. We won the national wind blade test facility, and supported Cape Wind and other clean power projects. As a result, the clean technology sector has become one of the strongest growth industries in the Commonwealth and one of the most promising in the world.

Ten new movies were produced last year, thanks to the new Film Tax Credit, and cultural facilities are being restored. What does that mean? It’s providing new jobs for workers in our creative economy and bringing over $200 million in new economic activity to the Commonwealth.

Our China mission produced sales agreements for life sciences and medical device companies; research exchanges between UMass and China’s premier universities; and new nonstop air service between Boston and Beijing next year.

And the Massachusetts economy is responding: creating 22,000 new jobs in 2007, out-performing the national average for job creation, and moving from 48th under previous administrations to 15th in the nation last year. Massachusetts is on the move.

Now, strong economies need strong communities. So, we made the largest investment in housing last year in 20 years, including expanding the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and doubling the SoftSecond program, two proven strategies to put home ownership within reach of low- and moderate-income homebuyers.

300,000 adults and children who were uninsured last year are insured today and have access to affordable, reliable to primary care.

We distributed over $50 million in grants to support law enforcement and crime prevention, and nearly doubled funding for new police officers on the street.

We introduced “managed competition,” so that good drivers -- whether in Longmeadow or in Roxbury -- will see a more than 10 percent drop in their auto insurance rates and far more choices.

From Burgin Parkway in Quincy and Route 12 in Worcester to the Great River Bridge in Westfield, long-awaited repair and public works projects are finally underway. Massachusetts is on the move.

And last June we joined together to keep discrimination out of our Constitution, and leave consenting adults free to marry whom they choose.

So, the state of our Commonwealth is strong, and the evidence of that strength is tangible. My goodness, even the Red Sox, the Celtics and the Patriots are on fire.

For all of these accomplishments and others, for all that we have done together, I thank the Lieutenant Governor and other constitutional colleagues; Senate President Murray, Speaker DiMasi and all the members of the Legislature; the mayors and other local officials; the community leaders and everyday citizens, who have involved themselves in unprecedented numbers; and most especially, my exceptional team. Because of you, all of you, whether in schools, jobs or civic engagement, Massachusetts is on the move.

But there is much more to do. Because the state of our Commonwealth is far better for some than for others.

Parents in many communities still face the painful choice of passing overrides or losing school programs. High drop out rates and achievement gaps persist.

There are 125,000 people looking for work in Massachusetts and 90,000 vacancies – jobs that go unfilled because the people who need that work don’t have the skills to do it.

Small business owners are worried about making the payroll or making a living because the cost of insurance or taxes or space is high.

Too much talent and too many bright futures were lost last year to gun and gang violence.

Too many young families and seniors are still being pushed out of their homes by escalating property taxes, or by extreme adjustments in mortgage rates.

Parents in cities find it hard to dream about college for their kids, and parents in suburbs have nightmares about how to pay for college for theirs.

The poor are in terrible shape. And the middle class are one month away from being poor, and deeply anxious about it. I understand that.

And overshadowing all of this is widespread unease about the national economy, because credit and housing markets are especially fragile right now.

Now is not the time for us to lose our focus or our nerve. Government cannot solve every problem in everybody’s life. But government -- as an expression of the common interest and the common good -- has a role to play in helping people help themselves. And I believe that an agenda based on schools, jobs and civic engagement is not only the way through today’s economic uncertainty, but the way to write tomorrow’s chapter in the American Story. And so I ask you to join with me in partnership to accelerate that agenda in 2008.

Let’s start with education and invest in strategies that work. The budget we submitted yesterday commits a record $223 million more to support public schools. We also propose significant increases in early education grants, all-day kindergarten programs, and extended learning time. Let’s give the 275,000 students and faculty in our public colleges and universities the quality labs, lecture halls and dormitories they deserve.

Support these budget initiatives, pass the higher ed bond bill, and let’s make the American Story their story, too.

On the jobs front, let’s both advance human healing and add another 250,000 jobs over the next decade by passing the Life Sciences Bill next month.

Let’s start promoting efficiency, renewables, cheaper electricity, and new jobs in a hot new growth sector by passing the Energy Bill.

Let’s connect the whole state to the world of ideas and commerce, and jumpstart the economies in western and central Massachusetts, by passing the Broadband Bill.

And with 20 thousand good permanent jobs, 30 thousand construction jobs, a $2 billion boost to our tourism industry, property tax relief for 1 million households, and a steady reliable stream of revenue for cities, towns and the state within our grasp, let’s work together to pass the Resort Casinos bill.

For working people at every level, we can make the American Story their story, too.

Last year, this Legislature created a commission to recommend a practical strategy to end homelessness. The Commission has delivered, and my budget funds their recommendations in full. Join us and let’s set ourselves on a course to end homelessness in Massachusetts once and for all.

Let’s be both tough and smart on crime:
Tough by limiting illegal access to guns and keeping high-threat gun offenders off the streets;
Smart by supervising and supporting the 97% of inmates who eventually return to society, and by using CORI information wisely instead of haphazardly. Let’s work together to pass an effective Anti-Crime Package this spring.

And finally, let’s give our cities and towns the tools they need to keep property taxes down and to provide the services our neighbors want by passing the Municipal Partnership Act in full.

All of our communities, all of our communities deserve a chance at the American Story too.

Rest assured: We can afford everything we have proposed. Between the savings and spending limits we have imposed, the revenue from closing a few gaps in our tax code, a responsible portion of new casino licensing fees, and some restraint in the use of earmarks, we can afford the high-impact investments we have outlined – as well as a 13 percent cut in the corporate tax rate and property tax relief for nearly half a million households. Even with these investments, our budget holds total spending growth to 3.5 percent, in line with the growth in consensus revenues.

Our economic fortunes are linked, of course, to national and international economic trends and events. In order to assure that we have the benefit of the best economic perspectives, I am announcing tonight the formation of the nonpartisan Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, to be chaired by former President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Cathy Minehan, and consisting of prominent economists and other leaders from local, national and international commerce. They will help us assure that the American Story thrives in Massachusetts.

But invest we must -- to keep Massachusetts on the move. That’s the most effective hedge against economic stagnation. With fears of recession looming, how can any of us sit idly by and fail to act? And with the future of the American Story at stake, how can any of us refuse to sacrifice?

For a year now, I have attended the funerals of Massachusetts servicemen and –women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each occasion is profoundly moving. Most of the time the lost soldier, sailor or marine is young. In some cases there is a girlfriend; or a young widow, on one or two of those occasions with a baby the fallen soldier has never even held. You cannot escape the youth: the disbelief of childhood buddies that their friend could be gone so soon; the utter tragedy of parents having to bury a child just entering his or her prime. Still, there is a remarkable lack of bitterness among the families. Only loss and grief and an understanding unspoken that service and sacrifice is sometimes necessary.

We cannot ask these exceptional young people to give what Lincoln called “the last full measure of devotion” to strengthen our community and secure the American future for ourselves, and then balk at making a far less profound sacrifice ourselves to achieve the same ends.

I know that the willingness to serve and to sacrifice is out there.

I see it in the new leadership of Commonwealth Corps, our initiative to enlist a broad army of citizens – young, old and in-between – offering to give back to their communities.

I see it in the Readi Reps, the nearly one thousand grassroots organizers committed to advancing the Readiness Project, our next chapter in education reform.

I see it in the willingness of private funders to support crime prevention in urban hot spots and in the young people who are helping me form a Statewide Youth Council, so that their voices can be heard in developing policies that affect their lives.

Everyone must do his or her part -- because everyone has a stake.

We must do our part as elected officials by managing government responsibly. That includes being willing to curb spending in other areas. Last year I cut some $500 million from state spending, and held spending increases to the lowest level in three years. This year my budget offers another $475 million in cuts. And later this year, through a concept we call MassTrans, I will ask for your support in streamlining our transportation bureaucracy, which will yield further significant savings.

State employees, whose public service I honor and appreciate, must help by sharing a greater burden of their health insurance benefits.

Large, multi-state companies, who create opportunity for so many, must help by learning to live in Massachusetts by the same tax rules they live by everywhere else.

Even the telephone company must help by paying its fair share of local property taxes so that communities can ease the property tax burden on seniors and on others of limited income.

And as you consider our proposals, and how to support this agenda of schools, jobs and civic engagement, consider also the cost of inaction.

A poor child in high-quality early ed is 40% less likely to need special ed or to be held back a grade, 30% more likely to graduate from high school, and twice as likely to go to college. The cost of inaction is too high.

Just as every new life sciences job creates 3 to 4 others in related fields, every lost life sciences job costs us in similar measure. The cost of inaction is too high.

When high tech and clean energy firms leave, or gaming firms shun this market, because we are unwilling to play to our strengths and address barriers to growth, they take thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of investment with them. The cost of inaction is too high.

Failure to support cities and towns has led to both cuts in services and hikes in local property taxes. When communities decline, our economy declines. The cost of inaction is too high.

Failure to maintain our roads, rails and bridges has left us with a $15 to $20 billion tab over the next 20 years. The cost of inaction is too high.

The people don’t expect us to agree on everything. But they do expect us to engage. They expect us to work together toward the best solution. They expect action. And they deserve it.

I admit that I am an impatient man. I’ve heard that. People say it is because I am from the business world, where things tend to move more quickly once a course is set. Others say it’s because I am a newcomer to Beacon Hill.

Actually, my impatience has nothing to do with any of that. It has to do with the fact that for every one of us from the South Side of Chicago or Worcester or from the North End of Boston, Mr. Speaker, or from Plymouth, Madame President, or from Mattapan or Southie or Springfield or Holyoke or New Bedford or Brockton or Haverhill -- for every one of us who has had the blessing of living the American Story, that “one generation” transformation -- countless others still wait for their chance. My impatience comes from knowing all the other eager, ambitious, capable, idealistic young boys and girls just like me in places left behind where you and I come from. My impatience comes from knowing up close the costs of inaction.

I went out to visit the Holland School in Dorchester last spring. A few weeks before, a young woman who was visiting her family from out of town was shot and killed. And a couple of weeks after that, an 11-year-old boy found a .44 caliber pistol in the neighborhood and brought it into the classroom. The neighborhood was understandably in an uproar. And so we called a meeting of adults, so that Mayor Menino and I could listen to some of their ideas about ways we could help, and share some of our own.

The meeting convened at the end of the school day, as the kids were leaving the building, heading to their buses or the walk home. I had a minute or two alone in the principal’s office to look over my notes and collect my thoughts before the meeting began. You know how you sometimes realize you’re being watched? When I looked up, there outside the window were a dozen or more little Black boys and girls, about this size, backpacks on, beaming, waving, all excited.

When I look into their eyes, the excitement I see is not for the history we made last year, but for the history they have yet to make; not my chance, but theirs.

And I see that look – of anticipation and hope – in the eyes of kids in communities all over this Commonwealth.

There is a whole generation watching and waiting -- some tonight perhaps -- to see whether we see our stake in their future – and act like it. And I say let them look to us – to you and to me – and let us affirm their hope for tomorrow in the actions we take today.

Thank you. God bless you all, and God bless the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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Hyannis arsonist tripped up; Harwich's Andrea Silbert launches new anti-poverty group; A tale of great loss; Important P'town exhibit

East Bridgewater man cools off arsonists
Hyannis's Jordon McCarroll caught by alert homeowner

“Those arson fires may not have been solved without their tips.”   - John GolembeskiEAST BRIDGEWATER - Jordan McCarroll, 25, of Hyannis and Thomas Aseltine, 27, of Lakeville, convicted of setting 13 fires on Cape Cod and one in East Bridgewater in 2004, are serving sentences in federal prisons in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They were caught thanks, in part, to the East Bridgewater homeowner whose house they robbed and torched.

On Nov. 10, 2006, the two men pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of setting a fire in East Bridgewater and 13 fires on Cape Cod, including one in a Wellfleet cottage owned by the National Park Service. They will each serve seven years followed by three years’ probation.

At Dennis Fire Headquarters Jan. 16, three people who provided tips leading to the men’s arrest received a total $9,500 from the Arson Watch Reward Program. John Golembeski, president of the Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association, presented Dana Johnson of East Bridgewater $4,500, and Mary Bearse and Bruce Pierce of Dennis $2,500 each...  East Bridgewater Star.  
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New anti-poverty group launched with $15 million gift
Eos is headed by Harwich's Andrea Silbert

"The Eos Foundation believes the clearest path to a better future is through working to alleviate poverty, especially as it affects children" -Andrea SilbertThe Eos Foundation has pledged $15 million to be paid over five years to combat poverty in the Boston area, the Harwich Port-based foundation announced Wednesday.  The money will be used to jumpstart an independent nonprofit, Boston Rising, and will be modeled after Robin Hood -- an innovative New York City-based group that draws significant support from hedge fund, financial, and industry leading professionals. Robin Hood reported distributed more than $130 million last year alone, according to Eos' release.

The Eos Foundation plans to leverage its gift; it is in the process of raising matching funds to increase the impact, according to the release.  Currently, Boston Rising is an initiative established by Eos President Andrea Silbert, the co-founder of the Center for Women & Enterprise and a 2006 candidate for lieutenant governor...  Boston Business Journal.
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Up against boundaries, together and alone
Painters William Freed and Lillian Orlowsky met in the early 1930s, married 10 years later, and together left a strong stamp, both socially and artistically, on the art worlds of New York and Provincetown. The joint exhibition of their work at ACME Fine Art twines two bodies of work together in a fine duet. Freed, born in 1902, died in the early 1980s, and Orlowsky died at 89 in 2004...  In "Rediscovering William Freed," a catalog for a 2003 show at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and the Cape Cod Museum of Art, Myrna Harrison recounts a story Freed told about his first lesson with Hofmann. Freed drew an academically precise nude. The Cubist teacher made a disparaging comment, then offered detailed criticism. Freed was hooked...  Globe.A tale exploring loss at sea
"Fatal Forecast" limns the dangers our fishermen face

On what seemed like a relatively calm day in November of 1980, two small fishing boats left their Cape Cod docks in search of lobster on Georges Bank. The vessels never returned, and four men died in an unexpected storm. Four survived.

Franklin resident Michael Tougias tells the story in his bestseller, "Fatal Forecast," published last year... Tougias stressed that his presentation is more than just an author reading. "There are slides that are going to blow people away," said Tougias. "I'm going to take the audience on a visual voyage going through the actual experience of what these men went through."

The survivors include Peter Brown, whose father skippered the Andrea Gail, the boat made famous in "The Perfect Storm." Wayland native Ernie Hazard, lone survivor from the Fair Wind, particularly captured Tougias' imagination. "He saw something few people on the planet have ever seen, let alone survived," said Tougias, describing the 100-foot wave that pitch-poled Hazard's boat and killed his crewmates...  Globe. 

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Wampum grocery money; Nantucket scalloper apprentice program

   On Martha’s Vineyard, Using Scallops as Currency


Lawyer says man killed pit bulls in self-defense
   BARNSTABLE - A jury on Cape Cod is deliberating the case of a man charged with animal cruelty in the fatal shootings of two pit bulls.
A lawyer for Keith Kynock said the dogs were out of control, attacking Kynock, his mother and two other dogs.
   Attorney Keith Deehan said Kynock and Todd Soderberg — who pleaded guilty last year — feared for their lives and had no choice but to use semi-automatic rifles to kill the animals...  Herald.For year-round residents of this Martha’s Vineyard village, winter is time to relax. In summer, when the island’s population soars from 15,000 to 75,000, locals like Jan Buhrman have to make a year’s living in just a few short months. Ms. Buhrman, who is 50, caters weddings and dinner parties for the seasonal crowd. When winter comes, she tends a local school library, among other jobs, and she cooks.

Even in January, her hours in the kitchen have a purpose. Sitting in the bright oak post-and-beam room built by her husband, Richard Osnoss, a carpenter, Ms. Buhrman explained that she tries to eat only food raised on Martha’s Vineyard and to go down island to the grocery store in Vineyard Haven as little as possible.

Some of her groceries she grows herself. For much of the rest, she trades with her neighbors.  Following Ms. Buhrman for a day or two as she gathers ingredients is a lesson in how to eat locally, even in the coldest days of winter. Because she seems to know everybody on the island who raises, catches or forages for food, it is also a glimpse of an alternative economy of eating, one in which modern capitalism takes a back seat to a looser, island-grown style of bartering. .. New York Times. 
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Nantucket Marine Dept. floats concept of scalloper apprentice program

To fish for bay scallops is almost a privilege, given that Nantucket sustains one of the last remaining viable bay scallop fisheries on the East Coast.

Protecting it is one of the goals of the Marine & Coastal Resources Department's concept for an apprentice program that could require new commercial scallop fishermen to fish with experienced scallopers, or put in a certain number of hours working with the town shellfish biologist before dredging for scallops on their own.

Deputy Shellfish Constable Dwayne Dougan explained the idea to the Shellfish & Harbor Advisory Board at its Jan. 15 meeting while updating it on proposed shellfish regulations for eels, quahogs, mussels and conch.

Dougan said that apprentice scallopers who want to get their commercial licenses might either fish 100 hours with licensed scallopers for their first season, work in a scallop shucking shanty or be assigned scallop-related work by Town Shellfish Biologist Jeff Mercer. The apprentice work would educate new scallopers on the importance of protecting seed scallops and scallop habitat, and train them in scallop boat operation and navigation.

"Right now, they have to get three current scallopers to sign off on their licenses," said Dougan.

SHAB agreed with Dougan that three signatures from experienced scallopers is no longer enough to qualify new scallopers for fishing in the harbors, given the tenuous state of Nantucket's scallop populations and that the practice teaches them little about scallops and scalloping.

"All the numbers are flexible," said

Dougan. "I talked with several fishermen and they said it's a good idea. It could be 40 hours. It could 60 hours."

Although SHAB liked the apprentice program idea, it did not vote on it at its meeting.

"I feel the first years, they at least should go with somebody else," said SHAB member Fred Holdgate.

SHAB member Matt Herr agreed.

"It's like any skill - no one's going to let you pull wires in a house without getting your ticket," he said.

The board and Dougan also discussed a two-bushel limit for trainees during their apprenticeships. Marine Superintendent Dave Fronzuto said he and Dougan are looking at what other towns in the region do for shellfish apprentice programs to see how they can adapt them to Nantucket's situation, including the Towns of Bourne and Sandwich.

In those Cape Cod towns, residents 12 to 16 years old can get apprentice shellfish licenses for $100 from the towns' Department of Natural Resources to harvest scallops, clams, quahogs, oysters, herring, eels and sea worms. They must do this under the supervision of an adult in their immediate family or a legal guardian possessing a valid commercial shellfish license. Each family in these towns is allowed just two such permits apiece and each apprentice can harvest one bushel per day.

"It's something that we're asking them [SHAB] to look at," said Fronzuto. "Other communities on the Cape have it."
Read the rest of the Nantucket Independent here.

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Horseshoe crabs in Canada's plains; Cape Cod clams on Block Island

A big case of crabs
Oldest horseshoe fossils found in northern Manitoba sites

Manitoba is home to an important discovery of fossils dating back 445 million years, the Manitoba Museum announced yesterday.  The horseshoe crab fossils, found near Churchill and in the Grand Rapids Uplands area, are now the oldest of their kind on record, said Graham Young, curator of Geology and Palaeontology at the museum.

"It's great we can find things in Manitoba that are new to Manitoba but also new to the world," he said. The fossilized creatures, which exist in a slightly more evolved state today, have a head shaped like a horseshoe, earning them their name. Modern horseshoe crabs can be up to two feet long, said Young. Although they've evolved, they share characteristics with their early ancestors.

"I found it especially exciting because it's something that's still around today," Young said of the creatures. "They've shown they're survivors."  The current-day version of the crabs are found on warm sea shores, he said, including the eastern U.S. south of Cape Cod. They live in the water but come onto shore to mate and lay eggs, he said...  Winnepeg Sun.  
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Softshell clams not for the taking this summer
Block Island to seed their beds with Cape Cod clams

The Block Island Shellfish Commission voted to give softshell clams — also known as “steamers” — a chance to replenish themselves this summer. That means the taking of the fragile bivalves will be prohibited in the open clamming areas — Andy’s Way and Cormorant Cove — from Mother’s Day to Columbus Day.

The commission made the decision at its January 15 meeting after Shellfish Warden Tinker Murphy reported that the softshell population in those areas was severely depleted and needed time to regroup. Murphy also suggested that the commission consider reseeding the areas with softshell clams...  Chair Lois Bendokas said that the commission will need $5,000 to pay for a shellfish transplant this spring, and $4,500 for seedling clams bred at ARC shellfish farms in Cape Cod. In both cases the clams involved would be hardshell quahogs...  Block Island Times. 

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7,563 foreclosures in Massachusetts; Local flack defends electric shocks; Cranberries get a boost

Canton school erased tapes despite order
Two students given electric shocks because of prank phone call


What Ernie Corrigan said:
Spokesman, Ernie Corrigan, said investigators had already viewed the tapes, and that there was no reason to preserve them."There was no legal requirement that they hold onto the tape.  What law did they violate?" Corrigan said.QUINCY - State investigators told officials at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center to preserve video recordings of an Aug. 26 incident in which two students were given dozens of painful electric skin shocks as the result of a prank telephone call, a report says.  The tapes were destroyed despite the order from state investigators, prompting accusations of a cover-up from lawmakers and critics of the Canton-based school for special needs students.

"At the minimum, the center was trying to cover up what happened,’’ said Sen. Brian A. Joyce, a Milton Democrat trying to ban or restrict the skin-shock therapy at the school. "Quite possibly, the intent was far worse"... The report, by the Disabled Persons Protection Commission, concludes that one of the teenage students was severely physically and emotionally abused by the incident... A spokesman for the school, a residential center for more than 200 people with special needs, confirmed Friday that the tapes were destroyed despite a state order...  Patriot Ledger. 

(Editor's Note: Ernie Corrigan is also the spokeman for the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.  He previously proformed a public relations function for disgraced Cardinal Law of Boston. The cc2day file photo on right is Corrigan at an Alliance anti-wind farm rally in Boston in March '04.)
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Grants help cranberries meet technology

WAREHAM — The cranberry industry and the environment will both get a boost through an agricultural grant offered by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which could help cranberry growers use water more efficiently and reduce pesticide leaching.

An $81,543 grant for the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association will allow for the purchase of new technology that could determine how much water a cranberry plant needs under different conditions. Rather than simply treating plants with a fixed amount of water across the board, cranberry growers can now use moisture sensors and other technology to determine how much water is actually required...  Standard-Times.  
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Thousands in Massachusetts foreclosed on in '07
7,563 homes were seized, nearly 3 times the '06 rate, '08 may be worse

Mortgage companies foreclosed on 7,563 Massachusetts homes last year, almost nine times the number in 2005, when the housing boom peaked, and almost three times the number in 2006. It was the most foreclosures in a year since the early 1990s, during the last protracted decline in housing prices. The figures are compiled by Warren Group, a publisher of real estate data and news.

Many housing analysts expect 2008 will be even worse. Housing prices are expected to fall through the year, driven in part by mortgage companies selling foreclosed homes at discounted prices. At the same time, thousands of Massachusetts borrowers face increased monthly mortgage payments as their interest rates jump sharply...  Globe.  

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