Published June 9, 2010

Boston’s jakes finally have a deal that both the City Council and the mayor are OK with. I just talked with Fred Thys to distill the important details:

• Firefighters get an 18 percent raise over five years.
• The contract covers fiscal 2006 to 2011. That means most of the raise is retroactive. Yup, the contract they settled on after four years of fighting is about to expire.
• That 18 percent raise includes a 1.5 percent raise (down from 2.5 percent) in exchange for random drug testing. This quid pro quo is the most controversial aspect of the arbitration. Critics — including many commenters on wbur.org — ask: Why should firefighters get paid extra to show up sober?
• The drug testing won’t start till next fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2011.
• All firefighters will have to undergo physical exams. Future firefighters (but not current ones) will have to undergo physical fitness tests.
• The City Council still has to vote to approve the deal tonight. All but Councilor Chuck Turner say they will vote yes. The City Council ratified the deal this afternoon.

More coverage from the Globe, Herald.

OK, so what’s a “jake?” Watch for my next post.

Published June 8, 2010

If you missed it: Sure, you could read Monica Brady-Myerov’s piece on the Threshold Choir, but you really ought to listen. It’s a powerful story. A singing group from Littleton visits hospital bedsides to ease the transition to the other side.

The singers rehearse by gathering around a person reclined in a lawn chair. For her story, Monica played the patient. She started recording, closed her eyes and floated away. (Watch the video.) Monica tells me if she were to choose, she would want to go out on “The Water Is Wide,” an old folk song.

• Bedside Choir Provides ‘Threshold’ Comfort

Published June 8, 2010

Elizabeth Warren, the consumer advocate and “Sheriff of Wall Street,” is worried that financial reform by committee will fail. “Herds” of lobbyists are picking apart the legislation. “And at the end of the day, we can all congratulate ourselves that we got something that has the right title and has no real impact.”

Warren was Tom Ashbrook’s guest at a special live recording Monday of On Point, which airs today at 10 a.m. and again at 7 p.m. Don’t miss the roundup on the On Point blog.

Meanwhile, Rep. Barney Frank told us Monday that the bill he pushed through the House was not tough enough. I took notes on that interview here.

Published June 8, 2010

The Boston Globe has redesigned its print edition to better accommodate its three remaining readers, The Onion reports. (Some language may not be work-safe.)

Michael Fisher, of Boston, Camille Kresge, of Quincy, and Buddy, a homeless man who sleeps near the Boston Public Library, will be able to read articles about the five or six topics that interest them, complete with personalized reminders of doctor’s appointments and a review of the movie that’s next up in Fisher’s Netflix queue.

Globe Managing Editor Tom McNally “heralded” the new focus and said the paper is working to increase circulation.

Elsewhere, the Chicago Tribune has switched to an All Beyoncé Photos & Coupons format. The Washington Post recently began printing its daily edition on hot pancakes and delivering them to its 35 subscribers with sides of bacon.

Published June 8, 2010

• Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston’s Catholic archdiocese is in the news again. O’Malley delivered a private message to the pope. What did it say? We’re trying to arrange an interview with the cardinal, but he is very hard to get.
• Ted Siefer is talking to lawyers filing suit over a real estate notice in the New Bedford Standard-Times declaring that only people of “the Caucasian Race” can purchase the property.
• Steve Brown is covering a state Senate hearing about the proposal to legalize gambling in Massachusetts.
• Lisa Tobin, Bob Oakes’ producer, is scheduling an interview with a robotics guy at iRobot, the local company (famous for the Roomba) using robots to measure the quantity of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. I’m working on a tech explainer. (Robots!!)
• Adam Ragusea is reporting on the draft plan for zoning along the Greenway, which critics say does not allow for enough density to bring the park to life. WBUR will be doing a lot of reporting on this topic in the coming weeks.
• Bianca Vazquez Toness is attending a discussion with U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz about “civil rights efforts” at the Depart of Justice, including the prosecution of hate crimes and a new “Civil Rights Initiative” in Massachusetts.
• We’re sending intern Meghan Keane to the Scooper Bowl, where people eat ice cream to support the Jimmy Fund.
• I’m working on an explainer on the origin and meaning of the word “jake,” a synonym for firefighter that you often see on the Herald’s front pages.

Published June 7, 2010

Seattle indie band The Green Pajamas has written a song for Phoebe Prince, the relentlessly bullied South Hadley High freshman whose agony ended in suicide earlier this year: “One January afternoon / They killed you in your school clothes / As sure as winter’s cruel hands /Clutch and kill the red, red rose.”

The Red, Red Rose

So, nevermore to see the sunrise
And nevermore the ocean wild
And not to taste the snow of morning
On the tongue of one so mild

And nevermore your eyes in laughter
That lately held but only tears
That lately gazed with only sorrow
Across a life of so few years

One January afternoon
They killed you in your school clothes
As sure as winter’s cruel hands
Clutch and kill the red, red rose

So, lost we are to ever hold you
Lost forever, thanks to those
Who built your gallows just as sure
As the first freeze kills the red, red rose

You can buy the song on the band’s MySpace page.

Published June 7, 2010

Every day Bostonians are treated to finely crafted, fact-checked stories from NPR and WBUR journalists. But it can be a long journey from story idea to finished product. I get to witness firsthand the chase — the questions we ask, the people we call, the issues we grapple with before a story makes it to air or Web.

In what I hope becomes a daily Hubbub feature, I’ll share here what our newsroom is cooking up. Sometimes ideas lead to dead ends or altogether different stories. That’s OK. I hope by including you, our readers, in the newsgathering process, the final product is a bit stronger, more transparent and more relevant to you and your communities.

Without further ado, here’s what WBUR is following as of mid-morning Monday:

• Meghna Chakrabarti is preparing for her in-studio interview today with U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, Newton’s gay, left-handed, pugnacious Democrat. He is the leading legislator on financial reform, a fight perhaps no one else is better equipped to handle. Another fight is on the horizon: re-election.
• Adam Ragusea is preparing a piece about yesterday’s intense and destructive weather. What happened? Why such extensive damage? How unusual was it? We will talk to a tree warden in an affected community or folks at the state’s Department of Conservation to get their perspective.
• Fred Thys is following the latest in firefighter contract drama. Mayor Menino said the union’s last-minute concession — which the council received warmly last week — is inadequate.
• Curt Nickisch is producing a series of vignettes on local small businesses that want to hire but can’t get lines of credit. The banks say they’re not lending because there is very little demand for credit; small businesses say banks are cutting off supply.
• Jessica Alpert is producing a Radio Boston segment about the increase in the number of food allergies, which reporter Steve Smith wrote about in today’s Globe. It turns out determining a food allergy is complex, and as a result there are many inaccurate diagnoses and unnecessary avoidance of certain foods.
• Monica Brady-Myerov is working on a story about a “growing hospice choir movement.” Choirs gather in the ICU to sing during a patient’s final moments. It’s powerful, and families say song conveys message they can’t otherwise verbalize. How do you want to go out?
• Our newscast unit is covering a meeting of Anglican officials in Amesbury as they look to establish a more conservative branch of the church there.

What stories are you interested in? What other stories should we be aware of?