As part of the Massachusetts Freedom to Vote Act, the proposed measure would allow a 16 1/2-year-old to pre-register to vote when they apply for a driving permit at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, so that when they turn 18, their registration will automatically kick in.

“This is an easy, no cost, common sense bill,” said State Rep. Ellen Story (D-Amherst), at a press conference before the hearing this week.

Story, who is lead sponsor for the bill, said she has had this proposal on her desk for a couple of years, and believes this is the right time to get it passed.

“The legislature is looking for things to do between now and Nov. 18, when we recess, that are good government bills and that don’t cost money,” Story said after her testimony to the Committee. “This doesn’t cost anything.”

Story said a person under the age of 18 should have the opportunity to pre-register, because young people at that age are starting to form their own opinions, and she said voting at a young age would lead to a lifetime of responsible voters.

“Voting is addictive,” said Story, who said the bill did not make it far last year but has heard no opposition from anyone. “If you start voting, you will never stop.”

In a study by Common Cause, the government watchdog found that only 50 percent of 18-year-olds are registered to vote in the US, and in the 2008 elections only 59 percent of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 24 were registered to vote.

The bill has already been implemented in 10 states around the country, including Connecticut and Maine.

The new bill would not change the voting age to 16, since 18 is the legal age to vote as stated in the US Constitution, but the bill might make it easier for 18-year-olds to vote.

“I’m a junior, and if I could just register to vote now it would make things that much easier because things are going to be hectic with college,” said said Donovan Birch, a junior at Boston Preparatory Charter Public School, who testified to the committee. “The first half of my year will be applying to college, then getting ready for it, then I have to fulfill all my requirement for my senior year.”

Birch, a member of Young Civic Leaders, a program sponsored by MassVote, a voters’ rights organization, designed to build leaders in the community, said this new bill would make it easier because senior year of high school can be a very busy time.

“Even though I’ll be 18, registering to vote isn’t going to be the first thing on my mind.”

Rep. Michael J. Moran, chair of the Election Laws Committee, was impressed by Birch’s testimony.

“We need more kids like you getting active,” said Moran, who jokingly told the group of 10 to 15 high school students that he tried to get them a half-day of school. “I know it can be very boring, but very important stuff goes on in here, and I appreciate you all coming.”

Avi Green, executive director of MassVote, said it was important for the high school students to voice their opinion to the Committee.

“It’s critical,” said Green, who, along with MassVote, sponsored the press conference before the hearing. “Everyone’s always saying ‘This is good for high school students or that is good for high school students or this is good for youth’ but I think youth can speak for themselves.

“I think Donovan was just as impressive as the adults that I heard, and I really hope that bill passes.”

Green is also an advocate for the other major proposed bills in The Mass Freedom to Vote Act. Including, Election Day registration, which would allow voters to register on the day of elections providing they have proof of residence and ID, and early voting, which would give voters a week in advance to vote in case they were not available on Election Day.

No vote was made on the bill, and Green said he hoped the Committee to act sooner rather than later.

…Did we forget a certain type of locally made beverage here? Massachusetts boasts wonderful products from many local wineries, yet this is a product you can’t go ahead and grab along with those yummy fruits and vegetables at the market stand.

However, that may all change soon if the current push to change state law goes through. This would allow wine to be sold at hundreds of farmer’s markets, and it’s being supported by local winemakers and agricultural officials from within Massachusetts. Because current liquor laws in Massachusetts are more restrictive than some other states, this would mean that farmer’s markets would have to obtain liquor licenses from the town or state they are selling in, and enforce underage drinking laws.

But not all winery owners feel that this would be an easy feat.

“The bill as written now would require that wineries receive approval…for a liquor license and wouldn’t be workable for small wineries. (The bill) as written would not be beneficial to small wineries. We don’t have to go to the local towns to get liquor licenses we are licensed by the state to sell direct to consumers at the winery. It does not require approval as long as we are in a wet town. If it were to pass, the ability to sell at the farmer’s market would be moot,” says Linda Shumway, owner of the Plymouth Winery.

As an example she states, “To sell in Newton, and to get a Newton license, the licensing process would be cumbersome just to sell at a farmer’s market. The ability to sell at farmer’s market would be terrific because we are local producers…It’s a great idea, (but there) needs to be a way for us to circumvent local control/approval” she adds, due to time, and legal fees that would stall the process.

Yet this opinion is not agreed upon by all.

Kip Kumler, owner of Turtle Creek Winery in Lincoln and chairman of the Massachusetts Farm Winery and Growers Association doesn’t agree. “Our members drafted this legislation…I don’t think there is any way to avoid allowing local jurisdiction of selling.” He explains.

Liquor store owners have been strongly opposed to the proposed bill, stating that wineries are not trained to pick out minors from purchasing alcohol. Many liquor stores were also opposed to the 2006 ballot question which offered the expansion of selling wine in Massachusetts supermarkets.

Kumler calls the opposition by liquor stores a ‘total red herring’.

“I think there’s two issues. One is, it’s not as if there are teenagers cruising farmers markets. People go there to (get quality)…its not the local package store, where someone is getting cheap alcohol for a friend.”

He adds, “you’ll find that package stores have almost all of the citations, wineries have almost zero to none. The real issue there is also…that the package stores are (feeling that) any additional opportunity to purchase wine will come at their own expense. I think they’re just burying their head in the sand.”

He explains that farmer’s markets operate less than a full year, one day a week, and that new markets for local wines should be of an interest to package stores. “They’re in place more often, if people want more of the wine, they will go to the package store. It’s a misrepresentation of reality.

Joseph Sullivan, one of the owners of the Chester Hill Winery in Chester, Massachusetts feels that the ability to sell at farmer’s markets would have helped his winery, which had been open for ten years and is now closed. Their website states that the Chester Hill Winery is closing not due to the economy, but “because it is time to slow down and “smell the roses.” However, Sullivan says that “it is very difficult for a small winery to exist, with shipping laws and other requirements.” He explains that other states allow the ability to sell under different venues under one license, and that the farmer’s market would have been a real help to the small winery, stating that “the ability to do that…would have been a real asset to the business”.

The lead sponsor of the bill in Massachusetts is Senator Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, and the current legislation is mainly focused on wine, though the possibility of beer has been mentioned. Massachusetts has just about doubled in the amount of licensed wineries over the last decade.

Richard Auffrey, writer of the Passionate Foodie (http://passionatefoodie.blogspot.com ), and food/wine columnist for the Stoneham Sun newspaper, in support of the option to change state law to support wineries said, “We should support this small, local industry and allow them an additional chance to let the public see their products…(they) don’t have enough visibility in most local wine stores. Many local wineries also cannot afford to sell their products through wine stores because of the discount they must give to those stores. The primary opposition comes from wine stores, alleging it will make it easier for underage teenagers to obtain alcohol. But there is no evidence supporting that allegation,”

All in all, Kumler doesn’t find the opportunity unreasonable.

“I think that farmers markets represent an important opportunity for wineries to increase their sales. There are 34 farm wineries in the commonwealth. There is already a lot of growth and interest in local wine…I think it’s very important.”

Dr. Harry Rubash, chief of orthopedic surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, performed Patrick’s surgery and she he was “alert and resting comfortably.”

“The procedure lasted approximately 2 1/2 hours without any complications,” Rubash said. “Gov. Patrick is expected to remain in the hospital for four to five days, followed by a few weeks of outpatient rehabilitation.”

Lt. Governor Timothy P. Murray will assume the governor’s responsibilities while Patrick is in the hospital.

Edward Moore Kennedy was born in St. Margaret’s Hospital in Dorchester on February 22, 1932, preceded by eight brothers and sisters, to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald, both from well-connected Irish-American families. As a result of several moves, to New York, Florida, and London, Kennedy attended many schools and was a mediocre student at most of them. He spent his high school years at Milton Academy where he maintained average grades and excelled on the football team.

Tragedy marked his life early on, and by age 16 he had suffered the deaths of three of his siblings: Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. in World War II, Rosemary Kennedy to a failed lobotomy, and Kathleen Agnes Kennedy in a plane crash.

After completing high school, Kennedy enrolled in Harvard University, where his grades once again took a back seat to his football career. He had a friend take his Spanish exam in hopes of maintaining high enough grades to continue his sports career. When caught, both were expelled, leading to a stint in the United States Army for Kennedy in 1951.

Thanks to his father’s political connections, he was never assigned to combat in the ongoing Korean War and instead served as an honor guard in Paris after completing basic training and Military Police school.

Shortly after he was discharged as a private first class in March 1953, Kennedy returned to Harvard to finish his studies and, after his sophomore year academic probation ended, his football career as a second string end, working his way up to starting end by senior year. Despite not receiving a varsity letter he was contacted by a Green Bay Packers recruiter with an offer to play professionally, which he turned down to go to law school and “go into another contact sport: politics.”

While attending the University of Virginia School of Law between 1956 and 1959, Kennedy studied abroad at the Hague Academy of International Law and managed his brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s 1958 Senate re-election campaign, helping to achieve a record-setting landslide victory. He also received charges of reckless driving and operating without a license, the first of his vehicle-related incidents.

He graduated from law school and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1959, after marrying Virginia Joan Bennett on November 29, 1958, at St. Joseph’s Church in Bronxville, New York. They had three children together: Kara Anne, Edward Jr., and Patrick. Due to his womanizing and her growing alcoholism, the marriage was soon troubled.

In 1960, Ted’s brother John ran for president, and Ted managed his campaign in the Western States, helping John win the first battleground state of Wisconsin in the Democratic primary. After the general election, Ted wanted to remain out West and not run for office immediately, and he was not eligible for John’s vacated Massachusetts Senate seat until his 30th birthday on February 22. Instead, John asked Governor Foster Furcolo to name Benjamin A. Smith II to the seat, which would hold it so Ted could later run in a special election.

Rehashing his brother’s campaign slogan from 10 years prior, Ted Kennedy went against Massachusetts Attorney General Edward J. McCormack Jr., who said that Ted would be “one Kennedy too many.” He faced his first public scandal when McCormack revealed his Harvard expulsion publically, but Kennedy rose above this, aided by McCormack’s overbearing nature in a debate, in which he said “the office of United States Senator should be merited, not inherited,” and called Kennedy’s campaign a joke. Kennedy went on to crush McCormack in the primary by a two-to-one margin and Republican candidate George Cabot Lodge II in the November special election.

Ted Kennedy spent his early Senate career avoiding the spotlight and trying to avoid making enemies of the older, more established Senators, and instead focused on his committee work. Not long after his career started, while presiding over the Senate, he was informed of his brother John’s assassination on November 22, 1963. Seven months later, Ted suffered severe injuries in a plane crash in Southampton, Mass., including a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding, and a back injury that persisted throughout the remainder of his life. The pilot and one of his aides died in the crash.

For a review of some of Ted Kennedy’s major political accomplishments, read Dan Kennedy’s piece for Blast on the Lion’s legacy.

In 1968, after securing the California primary against President Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, the family member Ted was closest with, was assassinated, devastating the young Senator. He delivered a eulogy at his speech, which included one of his most famous quotes:

My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: ‘Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.’

Seen by many as the natural successor to his brother, Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago and others encouraged Kennedy to make himself available for a draft to take the nomination, though he declined as he felt unprepared and did not want to be seen as a filler now that his brothers were gone.

With his brothers dead, Ted took on the role of paternal figure to their 13 children, and rumors persist that he coordinated the marriage of Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis.

Despite the trauma and hardships he had recently suffered, Kennedy threw himself into his work and became the youngest ever Senate Majority Whip in 1969, a move that seemed to further position him for the presidency, which he still felt conflicted about.

A few months later, Kennedy was involved in what is now known as the “Chappaquiddick incident.” After leaving a party for the Boiler Room Girls, a group of women who had helped in Robert’s presidential campaign, Kennedy drove his 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 off the Dike Bridge and into the Poucha Pond inlet. He quickly swam to safety, but his passenger, Boiler Room Girl Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. Kennedy did not report the incident to police until her body was found the next day.

Kennedy received a suspended sentence after a guilty plea to leaving the scene of an accident a week later, and gave a nationally-broadcasted speech in which he avoided admitting guilt to driving under the influence of alcohol or improper relations with the 28-year old Kopechne, but expressed his decision to leave the scene as “indefensible.” Despite the scandal, Kennedy received a positive response to stay in office from the Massachusetts electorate.

Doubts have clouded the reports of the events of that night, and to this day many question Kennedy’s story, which a secret inquest by Judge James A. Boyle found to be inconsistent. A grand jury on Martha’s Vineyard also conducted an inquest which was inconclusive. Kennedy condemned Boyle’s inquest, which was made public after the local inquest’s report, as “not justified.”

Kennedy overcame the allegations and easily won re-election the year following the incident, 1970, but lost his position as Majority Whip to Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which he confided to Byrd was a blessing as it allowed him to focus on his committee work.

Kennedy spent much of the 1970s focused on real political work, pushing through legislation such as the National Cancer Act of 1971 and working tirelessly on issues such as the conflict in Northern Ireland, health insurance reform and campaign finance reform. He repeatedly entertained thoughts of running for president, but family problems and the ongoing coverage of the Chappaquiddick incident kept him from committing, despite polling suggesting he could easily win the primary and the lack of other viable Democratic candidates.

In 1973, Kennedy’s son Edward Jr. was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, resulting in a leg amputation. His other son, Patrick, was suffering from severe asthma attacks, and Ted’s wife Joan sunk deeper into her alcoholism, resulting in several stints in instutitions and an accident due to drunk driving leading to her arrest.

In the late mid to late 70s, Kennedy was at his lowest point politically, as he found himself without a chairmanship and Carter taking the reins as the ranking Democrat. Carter’s differing priorities put a strain on Kennedy’s efforts to improve health care, and he instead focused on international good will, visiting China and the Soviet Union in 1977 and 1978. He rose to take the mantle of Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, but suffered another blow when Carter refused to back the $60 billion price tag of his proposed national health care plan.

In an unusual bid to unseat Carter, a member of his own party, Kennedy eventually ran for president in the 1980 election, and was the favored candidate due to Carter’s unpopularity and weak stances on many issues, but he ultimately lost, in part due to negative press regarding his answer to the Chappaquiddick incident question and the electorate’s sudden support of the president during the Iranian hostage situation and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. When Carter badly bruised Kennedy in the Iowa caucuses, many of Kennedy’s key fundraisers bailed, and it was a downward slope from there. Kennedy, however, clung to his fearless nature, no doubt earned on the grid iron in high school and at Harvard, and pushed his campaign all the way to the Democratic National Convention despite almost impossible odds, but conceded the nomination when his measure to free delegates from their voting commitments was defeated on the first night of the convention. Ultimately, Carter’s inability to win over Kennedy supporters aided in his defeat to Ronald Reagan in the general election.

In 1981, Kennedy faced unique challenges, including being a minority member of the Senate for the first time, and announcing his divorce from Joan Kennedy, settling for $4 million in 1982 after a relatively benign proceeding. Kennedy, meanwhile, tirelessly fought against policies of the Reagan administration, once again turned down calls for a 1984 presidential run, and embarked on a landmark trip to South Africa, staying at the home of Bishop Desmond Tutu, which could easily have cost him his life in the tumultuous apartheid atmosphere of the time. He later went on to be a key member of arms control talks with Mikhail Gorbachev under the Reagan administration; despite political differences, he and the president respected each other and maintained amicable relations.

After his divorce, drinking and womanizing became more of a public burden for Kennedy, and he was involved in drunken incidents with fellow Senator Chris Dodd in Washington, including allegedly unwanted physical contact with a waitress in a D.C. restaurant. These factors played a big role in his cutting short any plans of running in the 1988 presidential election.

Following the 1986 Congressional elections, the Democratic Party regained control of the Senate. As a result of his good working relationship with many prominent Republicans, Kennedy was once again one of the most powerful men in Washington, and used his position to effectively defeat Reagan’s nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, which he saw as a threat to the civil rights he had fought so hard for. Kennedy used caustic tactics, including a speech which painted a picture of Bork’s America as a land of back alley abortions and segregation, which many saw as slanderous, but which was ultimately effective.

The 1990s saw Kennedy’s flaws magnified, through rape charges against his nephew following a night of drinking with the elder Kennedy, which Kennedy suppressed with a negative press campaign, as well as many articles and jokes about his conduct with women and his persistent drunken antics. This image put him in a position of ineffectiveness against the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, which he opposed due to Thomas’ refusal to comment on Roe v. Wade. His silence on the issue hurt Democrats chances of blocking the nomination, but to speak out would have been regarded as highly hypocritical.

The acquittal of his nephew, William Kennedy Smith, and his serious relationship with Victoria Anne Reggie, which led to their marriage in 1992, improved his image, and Victoria is credited with stabilizing his personal life, which let him focus on the larger challenges ahead, including his fight against Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America legislation which earned his title of Lion of the Senate, alater challenge from Republican Mitt Romney for his Senate seat, and his defense of President Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. More recently, Kennedy served as a voice against the Iraq War from the start, though he supported the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

By far his most passionate endeavour was the reform of health care in America, “the cause of his life,” he said, but which he died unable to attain. After a seizure in May of 2008, doctors announced Kennedy suffered from a malignant glioma, a brain tumor. After a risky operation to remove the tumor, which was considered a success, Kennedy underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy. His condition declined quickly over the next year, and he died at his home in Hyannis Port, MA on August 25, 2009.

Frederick Rincon contributed research for this story.

Health care reform was one of Kennedy’s flagship issues and a cornerstone of his policy throughout his decades in the Senate. By naming the bill after him, many hope that he will accomplish in death what he was not able to in life, another in a long line of personal and publicized tragedies in his expansive career.

Byrd’s full statement:

I had hoped and prayed that this day would never come. My heart and soul weeps at the lost of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy.

Senator Kennedy and I both witnessed too many wars in our lives, and believed too strongly in the Constitution of the United States to allow us to go blindly into war. That is why we stood side by side in the Senate against the war in Iraq.

Neither years of age nor years of political combat, nor his illness, diminished the idealism and energy of this talented, imaginative, and intelligent man. And that is the kind of Senator Ted Kennedy was. Throughout his career, Senator Kennedy believed in a simple premise: that our society’s greatness lies in its ability and willingness to provide for its less fortunate members. Whether striving to increase the minimum wage, ensuring that all children have medical insurance, or securing better access to higher education, Senator Kennedy always showed that he cares deeply for those whose needs exceed their political clout. Unbowed by personal setbacks or by the terrible sorrows that have fallen upon his family, his spirit continued to soar, and he continued to work as hard as ever to make his dreams a reality.

In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American.

God bless his wife Vicki, his family, and the institution that he served so ably, which will never be the same without his voice of eloquence and reason. And God bless you Ted. I love you and will miss you terribly.

In my autobiography I wrote that during a visit to West Virginia in 1968 to help dedicate the “Robert F. Kennedy Youth Center” in Morgantown, “Senator Kennedy’s voice quivered with emotion as he talked of his late brothers and their love for West Virginia. ‘These hills, these people, and this state have had a very special meaning for my family. Our lives have been tightly intertwined with yours.’

I am sure the people of the great state of West Virginia join me in expressing our heartfelt condolences to the Kennedy family at this moment of deep sorrow.

Personally, I don’t very much enjoy writing about this sort of thing. It’s heartwrenching to read and even worse to imagine. But this story isn’t about a mother who killed her own child, rather about a family fooled into thinking a baby was really theirs. Murder, sadly, is involved.

Julie Corey, 35, allegedly fooled her boyfriend, Alex Dion, 27, and his family into believing she gave birth to a child she stole. The kidnapped child, who was eight months developed, was cut from her dead mother’s womb. The mother, Darlene Haynes, 23, was found brutally slain in a hotel room in Massachusetts last year. Police had been searching for the missing fetus until now.

“It’s killing me. I’ve got a hole in my heart,” said Cindy Dion, Alex’s mother, after finding out the baby is not her granddaughter.

According to The Associated Press, Corey was definitely a poor liar. She duped her boyfriend and his parents into thinking she was pregnant, four months along one month, eight months the next. The family quickly got suspicious, but the arrival of a new baby girl pushed those suspicions to the back of their collective minds.

According to police, Corey took Haynes’ baby and went to a homeless shelter in New Hampshire. The infant was later found alive and well in a N.H. hospital, and will be released into state custody while family custody battles are settled.

Police arrested Corey and Alex Dion in Plymouth, N.H. after their friends reported the couple introduced their new “daughter,” even though no one knew Corey had been pregnant. Dion was later released, according to ABC News.

It gets worse. Public records show Dion and Corey lived at 94 Southgate Dr. in Worcester, Mass., the same building where Haynes’ mutilated body was found wrapped in a sheet and stuffed in a closet, her womb missing a baby girl. Haynes was a mother to three other children, aged five, three and 18 months.

Corey is being held on $2 million bail for the suspected kidnapping of Haynes’ child. No one has yet been charged for Haynes’ brutal murder, though members of Haynes’ family believe Corey killed Haynes, with the help of someone else.

According to Patrick’s press office, the governor made the announcement via his Twitter feed.

The other choices for the quarter included the Lowell National Historic Park, the House of Seven Gables in Salem and the U.S.S. Constitution.

We’re wondering what would have happened if Fenway Park was included.

More than 245,000 people voted on the new design.

The Mint recently asked all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories, to select one preferred and three alternate nationally recognized sites to be featured on the reverse of a new quarter. As part of America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act, the new quarters will be issued at the rate of five new designs per year beginning in 2010, and will be issued in the order in which the selected sites were established as national sites, as opposed to the last round, where quarters came out in the order of statehood.

Governor Patrick’s State of the Commonwealth Address

State of the Commonwealth Address

House Chamber

State House, Boston, MA

Thursday, January 15, 2009

As Prepared for Delivery

Madame President, Mr. Speaker, and Members of the House and Senate,

Honorable Members of the Judiciary,

Lieutenant Governor and Fellow Constitutional Officers,

Members of the Cabinet, Reverend Clergy, Mayors and Other Distinguished guests,

And above all, the People of Massachusetts.

I want to acknowledge my First Lady and yours, Diane Patrick. And we together want to acknowledge and thank the men and women in uniform – and their families – for the service they render in the United States military.

AN AGENDA FOR CHANGE

When we met in this chamber a year ago, I asked you to work with me on an ambitious agenda for change.

I asked you to increase support for public education, with a special emphasis on early education, all-day kindergarten and longer learning time – and you did.

I asked you to enact a Life Sciences Bill and a Clean Energy package — to grow jobs and shape a new economic and environmental future — and you did.

I asked you to support initiatives to end homelessness and move people from shelter to permanent housing — as an act of both compassion and common sense — and you did.

And I asked you to invest significantly over the next few years in rebuilding our college campuses, expanding broadband access, improving public and affordable housing, upgrading our parks and open spaces, and restoring our roads, rails and bridges – and you did.

In one of the most productive legislative sessions in a generation, you answered that call for action — and the Commonwealth is stronger. So, Mr. Speaker, Madam President, and each and every Member of both bodies, let me first say thank you — on behalf of all the people of the Commonwealth.

OUR BUSINESS IS FAR FROM FINISHED

And yet our business is far from finished.

We gather tonight under an economic cloud darker than anything this Nation has faced in three generations. Tens of thousands of people in Massachusetts have lost their jobs to a nationwide recession. Thousands have seen their savings or home equity snatched away by turmoil in the markets. Banks have money but won’t lend it. Businesses and nonprofits are laying off or won’t hire because they can’t see a clear path to tomorrow. We have unfinished business.

Within the sound of my voice tonight, there are mothers trying to choose between paying the rent or the heat this month, because they can’t pay both. There are parents listening to me now who have had to tell sons and daughters, home from college for the holidays, that they can’t afford to send them back next semester. There are homeowners on the brink of losing their homes because they got in too deep with the wrong lender. Achievement gaps in the schools persist in poor communities. And, in what feels like a personal tragedy for me, Black men, whether desperate or careless, are killing other Black men at ever more alarming rates. We have unfinished business.

BROKE, NOT POOR

So, this is not the time to let up or give up. This is not the time to lose either our will or our way — the grim economic forecasts notwithstanding.

When I was growing up, we were forbidden from calling ourselves “poor.” My grandmother taught us to say we were broke, because “broke,” she said, is temporary. We will cycle out of this downturn eventually and start to expand opportunity again, to widen the reach of the American Dream. And I am confident that — if we are honest about the challenges we face, responsible in the choices we make, and committed to work together for the common good – we will see our way through today’s economic clouds to a stronger and brighter tomorrow.

At the federal level, we are working hard to help shape a federal stimulus package to bridge us to a better economy. If and when that package is passed, we will be ready to get projects underway and put people to work. That means jobs extending broadband services; jobs installing solar panels, wind turbines, and weather stripping; jobs rebuilding roads, rails and bridges; jobs modernizing our health care records management system and building schools.

Of course, our job in state government demands more than waiting for a federal lifeline. We have launched one billion dollars of capital projects to start over the first 6 months of this year, creating new jobs and making it more attractive for companies and families to put down stakes in Massachusetts. Thanks to successful implementation of health care reform, nearly 98 percent of all Massachusetts citizens now have health insurance they can depend on, the highest proportion in the Nation. Our teachers and students continue to reach for ever better performance, scoring first in the Nation on NAEPs, the Nation’s “report card,” and near the top in the world on TIMSS, the international standards for math and science. We are not standing still.

NATIONAL ECONOMY AND BUDGET CUTS

Meanwhile, the national economy is making much of what we need to do harder to do. In October, we identified and closed a $1.4 billion gap in our state budget. With the economy continuing to deteriorate, we foresee the need for another $1.1 billion in cuts and other budget solves this month. At the end of this month, I will file an Emergency Recovery Plan to close this further gap. My request is simple: Give us the tools and we will finish the job.

I will also file a balanced budget proposal later this month for the coming fiscal year. Given the decline in state revenue, spending must be at levels significantly below what they have been in better times. No one’s priorities will be spared. Local services will be cut, and in many cases, police, firefighters and teachers will face layoffs. But as we debate these proposals among ourselves and with the advocates, let us remember that we are doing no more in state government than the people of the Commonwealth are having to do in their own lives — to make do with less, to trim down wherever we can to get through to a better time.

I know the impact is real. I see the people with disabilities whose work opportunities have changed. I see the youth workers whose efforts at violence reduction are more limited. I see the college and university instructors, the home health aides, the child care providers and so many others who deliver vital services, but who work without a contract or adequate pay.

Some think that cutting government is always good. But they see only abstractions. Behind every one of those budget line items, I see somebody’s best chance or only chance. And I will do my best to make the decisions I have to make with the impact of them clearly in mind.

We need everyone to contribute. We cut nearly $800 million from the Executive Branch last October, and will make another round of deep cuts as part of our Emergency Recovery Plan. In my office, we cut expenses by 17% in this year’s budget, and will make additional cuts in the next fiscal year. Given the times, as you consider your own spending, I am asking the Legislature and my fellow constitutional officers to do no less.

A SEASON OF SIGNIFICANT REFORM

At the same time, this crisis also presents us with opportunities. The times demand that we confront some issues that we may have avoided in ordinary times. Seizing these opportunities will make us stronger in the long run. So, I am asking the Legislature tonight to join me in a season of significant government reform.

While we may not be able to fund local aid at current levels, we can provide tools to help local governments better manage through these difficult times. In that spirit, we will again propose a series of measures that give cities and towns greater authority over local decisions. That includes raising new revenue through a modest meals and lodging tax, eliminating the outdated exemption the phone company enjoys from paying local property taxes, and encouraging as much regionalization of local services as practical. If we cannot provide direct aid, let’s at least untie the hands of local communities to capture the savings and raise the revenue within their reach. Let’s enact a municipal reform package this spring.

Our transportation system – and the means by which we pay for it – is a cluster of tangled knots. It’s time to level with ourselves and with the public about what our obligations are and how best to meet them, and to set us on a course to a more efficient and effective future. Let’s radically simplify our transportation system, and set it on a sustainable path, by enacting meaningful transportation reform.

The pension system is an area where the abuses of a few cast a shadow on the worthiness of the whole. I support the defined benefit system that we have in place today in state government, as part of the bargain we have with workers to serve the public at frequently below-market compensation. But the rules must be tightened so that abuses are eliminated and special benefits for a select few are removed. Only then can we restore the public’s confidence in the system. Let’s enact meaningful pension reform this session.

Public safety cries out for a better approach. Sentencing in the Commonwealth has become about warehousing people; and we do little to prepare the 94 percent of those incarcerated who will one day re-enter civic life. Once released, the misuse of the CORI system makes it nearly impossible for some people to get work, a place to live, and back on their feet. These practices may make a good sound bite, but they do nothing to make our communities safer. Let’s focus less on old rhetoric and more on preventing crime — and pass a meaningful, comprehensive Anti-Crime Bill.

And let’s enact ethics and lobbying reform now. I know we cannot legislate morality. But we can close loopholes in the current rules and stiffen the penalties for breaking them. In the coming three weeks, take up and pass our ethics reform bill, and let’s help restore the public’s confidence in the basic integrity of state government.

These five reforms will make our communities stronger and our government better. Along with earlier measures to lower auto insurance rates, introduce civilian flaggers at construction sites, and create an independent Office of the Child Advocate, these reforms further a vision of state government that serves the public’s interests, not the special interests.

SHORTCOMINGS

None of us here has the gift of divine perfection. Sometimes, without a doubt, we will come up short. We have not yet, for example, been able to deliver on our commitment to reduce property taxes in every community. Our initiatives to propel public education into the 21^st century may be implemented more slowly than I had hoped. Our proposal for resort casinos went down last year to defeat.

But in the words of Dr. Benjamin Mays, the legendary president of Morehouse College, “Not failure, but low aim, is sin.” Some will prefer to do as little as possible, to hunker down to wait for better times. Others will urge a more cautious agenda for fear that defeat provides a political advantage to our rivals. I choose a different path. I choose to focus on what’s next, what else we can do to help the people of the Commonwealth make a better way for themselves, their families and their communities. Hunkering down may be good advice in a hurricane, but it is not leadership. I choose a politics less about tactics and more about a vision for how to help ordinary people achieve their potential – even when times are tough.

“WE” MEANS ALL OF US

We do indeed have unfinished business. But the “we” to which I refer is not government alone. It is all of us. The times we are in are tough, but temporary. (Remember: “broke, not poor.”) While they last, we are going to have to learn to lean on each other, to live as members of a community.

That means check in on your elderly neighbor when it’s cold to make sure the heat is on. If you have some extra food, or can afford a few extra items at the grocery store, drop something off at the local food pantry. Take the coat your kids have outgrown over to a family shelter for a child it might fit just fine. Recycle everything you can. Give your time, your energy, your heart to someone somewhere. And above all, for the adults, show a young person how to look up rather than down.

Maybe you will say that no governor should come to this podium on this occasion and ask you simply to care about what havoc this economy is wreaking in the lives of others. But that is exactly what I am asking you do to. Because without you in this Commonwealth caring about that, and about each other, nothing we do here matters.

TOGETHER WE CAN

I still have hope for the future of the Commonwealth and her people. I still believe that “together we can.” And that is because I have always believed that “together we can” is more than a political slogan. It is an expression of will, of stubborn determination, of confidence. “Together we can” — like “yes we can” — is an assertion of character.

It is the same character that propelled a ragtag bunch of ill-equipped farmers and tradesmen, on a field in Concord and the green in Lexington, to invent America. It is the same character that caused slaves to steal away to freedom on the Underground Railroad, and lay claim to the conscience of a Nation. It is the same character that brought waves of immigrants to our shores with little or nothing, and enabled them in an earlier time and still today to build families, businesses and strong communities. It is the same character that inspires our researchers to build the web or life-saving robots or find a cure for humankind’s most stubborn diseases; the same character that moves young parents to work two and three jobs so their children can one day work at one good one; and the same character that leads us to affirm, whether gay or straight, that in Massachusetts equal means equal.

“Together we can” is about who we are. We are a home for hope. Citizens of Massachusetts, as long as we remember that and act accordingly, the State of our Commonwealth will remain strong. And I will remain both proud and grateful to be your governor.

Thank you. And God bless you all.

Photo Credit: FBI

When State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson’s arrest hit the news, everyone knew that there would be a messy fallout. Other Boston-based power brokers, in the state and city levels, would likely be implicated, leaving the leadership stuck with a major public relations hit and ongoing anxiety. The public, of course, would become increasingly skeptical of their leaders. This fallout was rearing its head today.

Chuck Turner, a charismatic Boston City Councilor,  who was arrested last week for allegedly taking a bribe, was all over the news again this week. Not only did Turner hold a press conference to claim innocence and plead for public support, but Maureen Feeney, city council president, preempted that 2:30 p.m. press conference with one of her own.

At 1 p.m., at City Hall’s Curley Room, Feeney said that while she respected Turner’s rights to claim innocence, thought the investigation would render him ineffective as a councilor. Feeney had already, and unilaterally, stripped Turner of his committee assignments.

But Turner, a Roxbury member of the Green-Rainbow Party, said he was being abused by city officials and members of the media.

“Obviously, the press is working to publicly destroy my reputation before I even have an opportunity to have a day in court,” he said. “Since I am being tried by the media and my fellow councilors, I have made the decision to publicly defend myself. That is, I will act as my own lawyer in this media trial in which I find myself. Some argue that I should keep quiet for fear that I may make some statement that can be used against me. So be it! I will not sit back silently and allow my reputation to be ripped to shreds.”

He added, “They are criminals.”

Chris Faraone, writing for The Phoenix, observed the situation.

Turner stepped to his crowd as planned. Even before a working microphone arrived, he launched into a condemnation of his colleagues and the pad-and-camera-wielding culprits who he deems responsible for his predicament.

The crowd was energized. Everyone expected fireworks, as the councilor’s operatives circulated an announcement declaring war against the media. “My main concern is that I am not being tried by a jury of my peers, I am being tried by the Globe, the Herald, Fox News, Channel 7, Channel 5, etc…,” Turner wrote and went on to say

Vocal support rang loudly. Some folks belted pro-Chuck chants, while others were noticeably angrier. When it became obvious that the sound system was busted, one participant suggested that evildoers “Stop controlling the truth and let him be heard.” “Get him a mic,” another person yelled.

Welcome to the surreal state of Massachusetts politics in 2009. It is sure to be a constant stream of drama, accusations, arrests and subpoenas.

The public is left to watch, and wonder who to trust.

The Governor’s Clean Energy Challenge, developed by the New England Clean Energy Council and the Massachusetts High Technology Council in cooperation with the state’s electric and natural gas utilities, will offer recognition to participants who meet or exceed the 10 percent target.

“I offer the Challenge to everyone to do their part to dramatically reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency measures, innovative energy technology products, and the use of renewable sources,” said Governor Patrick, who announced the Challenge at the New England Clean Energy Council 1st Annual Green Tie Gala in Boston this week. “As in any competition, there will be recognition for extraordinary accomplishment and leadership.  But this is a contest in which everyone who participates will be a winner.”

Millipore and Pfizer accepted aims to inspire action by businesses, municipalities, and residents to reduce their energy consumption in an effort to combat climate change.

“Millipore is pleased to take the Governor up on his challenge of reducing greenhouse emissions because it is important to our company and the environment,” said Millipore President & CEO Martin Madaus. “We appreciate the Governor’s leadership in positioning Massachusetts and its employers ahead of the curve when it comes to the adoption of clean energy technologies and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This is a critical program for the Commonwealth’s environmental and economic health, but also for the quality of life of its 6 million residents.”

Other companies that are considering participating in the Challenge and serving as mentors to other companies are members of Massachusetts High Tech Council’s Sustainable Energy Program, a component of the technology trade group’s 10-year-old energy aggregation program, which includes forward-thinking energy consumers like Boston Scientific and Varian Semiconductor. Participants will work with utilities NSTAR, National Grid, and Western Massachusetts Electric.

Clean energy advocates praised the program.  

“Massachusetts is in position to lead the way toward a clean energy future for the Commonwealth, the nation, and the world, and to capitalize on it in terms of innovation, entrepreneurship, and jobs,” said Nick d’Arbeloff, executive director of the New England Clean Energy Council. “The Governor’s Clean Energy Challenge is a way to focus attention and effort on both the environmental imperative and the economic opportunity.”

It was busy in the little town of Sharon, 25 miles south of Boston and 25 miles north of Providence. Everyone in town voted at the high school, adding to the parking and crowding fun.

It’s best to escape from work early or to try to go at an off peak time. It was still busy, but I got right in and out with no delay.

But I didn’t get an “I voted today” sticker. Bummer. Also, no exit polling was being done around noon time here in Sharon.

Massachusetts has three big ballot questions to consider. Question 1 eliminates the state income tax. Question 2 decriminalizes under an ounce of marijuana and replaces criminal penalties with a civil fine, and Question 3 would make dog racing illegal in the state.

Boston, MA – The Massachusetts Republican Party issued the following statement today in response to Governor Patrick’s speech to the Democrat National Convention

MassGOP Chairman Peter Torkildsen said, “Tonight, Deval Patrick spoke in Denver, but he might have well as spoken in Hollywood, because what he talked about had no basis in reality and no relation to his own dismal record of broken promises. Having an eloquent, but extremely inexperienced Governor is bad enough: an eloquent, but extremely inexperienced President would be much worse. The bottom line is this, Barack Obama is not ready to lead and not ready to govern.”

Executive Chef Rebecca Newell will feature passed plates of gypsy fare and desserts (including chocolate fountains and a cotton candy machine) throughout the evening with influences from Europe, the Mediterranean and good ol’ Americana, all served in a cocktail setting. Continue your celebration and toast the evening with The Beehive’s list of over 25 Champagnes!

The event Begins at: 9:30 p.m. and runs until 2:30 a.m. Cost is $95.00 per person plus cash bar. Tickets/Reservations are available by calling the Beehive at 617.423.0069.

Quick hits:

Where: The Beehive, 541 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116

When: Monday, December 31, 9 p.m. – 2:30 a.m.

Cost: $95.00 Reservations/Ticketing Available by logging on to: beehiveboston.com

About:

The Beehive or “La Ruche” — was an early 20th-century artists’ colony in Paris where the likes of Matisse and Chagall worked and made merry. Today The Beehive is an underground Bohemian bistro featuring amazing cuisine, libations, artwork and live music nightly. Nestled below the Boston Center for the Art’s historic Cyclorama in Boston’s South End, The Beehive serves the eclectic fare of Chef Rebecca Newell, rustic comfort foods infused with American, European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern influences. Open for dinner 5:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. seven days a week, and with cocktails and live entertainment available nightly until 2:00 am.

Opening this month, “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” is one of the best and catchiest shows in town this holiday season.

From November 23 until December 23, you can surprise someone special and stay in Boston in style and check out this critically acclaimed, often sold-out musical based on the classic movie.

Doubletree Boston-Downtown is offering a package for $289, which includes an overnight stay in this Hilton-family hotel and a pair of VIP tickets to “White Christmas.”

Shows are available Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 or 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m and space is limited, so call 617-956-5115 and mention code L-WHC with two weeks of your intended arrival date.