EXTRA...

Avant le deluge; Mashpee Tribes' budget; Sandwich considers closing Henry T. Wing School

TODAY's quote: "Nuns in America are a dying breed, and the church’s antediluvian male hierarchy gets more worked up about allowing Catholic women contraceptives than investigating sexual abuse of children by priests. " - Maureen Dowd, New York Times.

Sandwich Henry T. Wing School may close, students move to H.S.

A study last year showed it would cost $30 million just to bring the school up to code and $50 million to accommodate today’s teaching needs.
      Sandwich residents are simply having fewer kids, and the plan now calls for moving the 7th and 8th graders into the present Sandwich High School.
      Critics question the wisdom of having middle school age children mixing with 17- and 18-year-old students.
      Read the Enterprise story here.Tribe to spend $30 million this year

Almost 40% of budget to promote casino

The first budget presented to Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe members offers a glimpse into their government's priorities.

The Falmouth Enterprise reports that a budget released by the Wampanoag Tribal Council calls for more than $30 million in spending for 2012, the most detailed look yet at the tribe’s finances.

The overall budget includes:

• $16 million of revenue from investors
• $9.7 million loan from the US Department of Agriculture
• $4.6 million in revenue from federal grants

The weekly says the tribe projects spending more than $6 million on “gaming per-development,” or 39 percent of the total 2012 loan spending from Arkana Limited, an affiliate of Genting Group and the Malaysian firm funding the tribe’s pursuit of a casino and other operations.

That represents half of what the entire gaming industry spent in the state in the last five year which was $11.4 million, according to a review of state lobbying records by The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, back in the courts...

A challenge to the Massachusetts gaming bill that authorized three casinos, while designating that one be offered to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, has been rejected by a federal judge. Lawyers for KG Urban Enterprises were told by Judge Nathaniel Gorton the law is legal.

Read the Enterprise story here.

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