Published July 19, 2010

Apparently, it's not just drivers who share responsibility for avoiding police cruisers. (Sanford Kearns/Flickr)

Five state troopers have been struck by cars in recent weeks, most recently on Route 24 in Taunton. Early Saturday morning, an allegedly drunk driver struck Trooper Corey Rose, who was pulled over with his hazard lights flashing.

If you think there oughta be a law, there is. If you see a cruiser on the side of the road, you must move one lane over. There are flashing signs in some towns to remind drivers.

The law doesn’t help much if someone is driving drunk, of course. WBUR’s Curt Nickisch has been following this story and tells me there is a lot more Massachusetts could do to protect Staties on-duty. Research shows more and brighter lights are not always better. Here’s our Q&A.

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Published July 19, 2010

George Costanza taught us the double dip is something to fear.

Just take one dip and end it. (Peyri Herrera/Flickr)

But WBUR’s Curt Nickisch is not talking about chips and dip. He’s warning about the potential for a second nationwide economic slowdown, following a modest recovery that began last year.

While Massachusetts has fared better than the nation, Curt reports, we don’t live in a vaccuum. People in other states still have to buy what we make — and sell us what we don’t make. That’s why another national dip could hurt our commonwealth.

Now local economists turn their attention toward new foreclosure numbers due out tomorrow. Here is Curt’s prediction:

I expect the number of completed foreclosure proceedings (as in foreclosure deeds) to be up from the same month last year, and the number of foreclosure petitions (the start of the process) to be down from June of last year.  Those would be good indications we’re working through the wave – you have fewer folks going into the pipeline, and more coming out.  But…

The big question is if the slowing housing market will show up in these numbers.  Banks were foreclosing on more because they knew they could unload them quickly in a good market.  If petitions are not down (as in more people behind on payments, thanks to a weak recovery) or deeds are not up (as in banks are afraid to take back the house because they’re not sure they can unload it), then that would tell us something.

Look forward to more reporting on this tomorrow.

Published July 19, 2010

Obligatory cow photo (Skinnyde/Flickr)

The milk in your morning cereal is most likely pasteurized, which means it was heated super-hot to kill all the bad bacteria and then immediately refrigerated cold for preservation. Lovers of unpasteurized milk say that process kills all the flavor, too.

This morning NPR reports on the growing fight between raw-milk enthusiasts (they call it “real milk”) and health experts who say the stuff is dangerous. Unpasteurized milk, handled improperly, can poison you with the same strain of E. coli that turned up in ground beef, spinach,  and cookie dough. It recently sickened 30 people in Colorado. But it’s really, really good.

I have never tasted raw milk, but people tell me it’s so good they can’t go back to pasteurized. Problem is, raw milk is banned in many states — and expensive and hard to find everywhere else.

Here in Massachusetts, where it’s illegal for supermarkets to sell raw milk, enthusiasts form buying clubs and take turns driving out to one of about 20 farms in the state. A story by WBUR’s Bob Oakes and Lisa Tobin on the efforts to ban these clubs quickly became one of the most viewed and e-mailed stories on wbur.org.

The NPR story says advocates even claim raw milk is healthier, but scientists — including those at the FDA are dubious.

• If you want to join a raw-milk buying club in Massachusetts, the Northeast Organic Farming Association has a list.
• NPR.org has a fun explainer on Louis Pasteur’s experiments (he did it to preserve beer).
• Anti-raw: realrawmilkfacts.com
• Pro-raw: realmilk.com

Do you drink raw milk? How do you get it?