Published July 8, 2010
A U.S. judge in Boston has ruled that a federal gay marriage ban is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro on Thursday ruled in favor of gay couples’ rights in two separate challenges to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA.
Huge story. My notes and questions:
Published July 8, 2010
Roast Beef, one of the newest baby penguins at the New England Aquarium, made a public appearance today in front of Faneuil Hall. It may be 80+ degrees, but Roast Beef was looking cool in his air-conditioned penguin-mobile.
His nickname is “The Ladies’ Man,” says Jeff Prasnal, of the New England Aquarium, with a thick Boston accent: “He is absolutely a bachelor. Loves the attention. He is who he is and he won’t change for nobody.”
Penguins mate for life, but Roast Beef is still playing the field. “There’s a lot of little ladies for him to keep occupied with, and he is one of our better-looking gentlemen penguins, so he does quite well for himself,” Prasnal says.
Video by Jeff Carpenter for WBUR.
[youtube url=”KQkELvEzvo8″]
Update: A spokeswoman for the Aquarium e-mails me with a gentle correction: “Roast Beef isn’t a baby. He’s an adult penguin and often makes trips to schools for educational events. What was new about today’s event was the cool, air-conditioned, penguin mobile he was in – that was our first time using it.”
Hubbub is embarrassed. But come on, he’s an awfully small adult.
Kudos to superchill intern Marielle Segarra for her reporting.
Published July 8, 2010
Intern and resident cartoonist Chase Gregory has masterfully animated her renderings of Payne & Domke, our beloved Morning Edition political duo.
WBUR’s Bob Oakes talked to the boys about 2010 gubernatorial race and independent Tim Cahill‘s latest push to stay relevant in what may shape up to be a two-man race. Don’t miss this animated first from WBUR.
[youtube url=”TaCk0roKly8″]
Published July 8, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wA0lO6Osq4
John Henning, a fixture of Boston television news for decades, has died after a battle with leukemia, the Globe is reporting.
A lot of former TV newsmen work here at WBUR, and they all have something good to say about Henning.
“He was a traditionalist in the best sense of that word — a classic broadcaster of another generation,” says Paul La Camera, the WBUR general manager and former TV executive. “He was not a social media guy, Andrew.”
“A gentleman,” says my boss, John Davidow, once the assistant news director at Channel 4 when Henning was a correspondent. “The thing about John was how much he knew. He had encyclopedic knowledge about who and what did what to whom.”
“With him goes the secrets of the bones!” says David Boeri, the longtime TV reporter. “He knew the skeletons!”
Boeri remembers: “In an earlier era in the State House … the first question for the governor would go to the dean of reporters. And Henning would get the first question.”
Fred Thys, longtime State House observer, interjects: “In the time when I got here in ’98 … the tradition was gone, but he still got the first question. He was the most seasoned of the political reporters. He was no-nonsense.”
Boeri continues: “He knew the politics. He knew the craft. … He was sort of a wry observer of human behavior and the weaknesses of political officials.”
Henning was 73.