Published October 11, 2010
(Natalia Radziejewska/Flickr)
The Hubbub Photo of the Day for Monday comes from Natalia Radziejewska (photographynatalia), who submitted this mind-bending shot of a glass building in Downtown Crossing to our Flickr group. Nice work!
Published October 11, 2010
What’s news on a sunny Columbus Day in Boston:
An MIT professor shares the Nobel economic prize for his work developing theories to explain how economic policies can affect unemployment. MIT’s Peter Diamond was recognized for his work along with Dale Mortensen of Northwestern University and Christopher Pissarides of the London School of Economics. (WBUR)
Peter Solomon, one of many manifestations of an energized GOP electorate this year, illustrates the political zeal Massachusetts Democrats are up against as they try to hold back a Republican Party determined to make major gains on Election Day. What Democrats lack in enthusiasm, they’re trying to make up for in organization. (Globe)
Bay State welfare recipients looking to blow their taxpayer benefits on whiskey, smokes and Keno would be left high and dry under a tough new crackdown slated to be unveiled today by GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker. (Herald)
US securities regulators say they plan to look into dozens of cases in which publicly traded Massachusetts companies misstated how much their top executives earned over the past few years. (Globe)
In a move that school officials believe is the first of its kind in the state, Cambridge will close schools for one Muslim holiday each year beginning in the 2011-2012 school year. (Globe)
What are you reading on this holiday?
Published October 9, 2010
Republican Charlie Baker, left, and independent Tim Cahill participated in a debate in Cambridge on Monday. (AP)
The plot thickens in the political thriller of 2010.
A day after independent gubernatorial candidate Tim Cahill sued his former campaign aides — accusing them of conspiring with Republicans — Cahill’s former running mate accusied him of conspiring with Democrats. (You really should follow ElectionWire for the latest on this saga.)
This story is moving fast, so you can be forgiven for being confused. Here is a timeline of events:
9/23:
9/24:
10/1:
10/4:
10/7:
10/8:
10/11:
Stay tuned.
Published October 9, 2010
Boston sports fans, rejoice! While the Patriots have a bye week, the Celtics are in pre-season, and the Red Sox sit out the post-season, Bruins hockey starts this weekend. WBUR’s Ric Duarte will be Bruinblogging for Hubbub throughout the season. –AP
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Boston Bruins' Nathan Horton, right, controls a puck ahead of Martin Cakajik, left, of Bili Tigri Liberec during the first period of a preseaso game on Tuesday, Oct. 5. (Petr David Josek/AP)
Five months after creating history by losing in the second round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Boston Bruins open up their 2010-11 season in Prague, Czech Republic, against the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday at noon and Sunday at 10 a.m. Yes, coffee and hockey go together this weekend!
Significant changes in the Boston lineup this year include the Bruins’ No. 1 draft pick, No. 2 overall Tyler Seguin, who has made the varsity squad and will be taking a regular shift. Last year’s pick, Jordan Caron, has also made the team to begin the year and hopes to stick with the club.
My favorite thing about this year’s Bruins squad is the addition of Nathan Horton, acquired from the Florida Panthers from the enigmatic defenseman Dennis Wideman. Horton has been a scoring threat since he came into the league six years ago and has potted at least 20 goals in each of those years. The Bruins hope Horton will provide the scoring touch that the team so sorely needed last year when they finished 31st in scoring in the league.
In goal, they seem to be solid. Tuukka Rask has emerged as the No. 1 goaltender beginning the year, and former Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas seems to be getting back into form after off season hip surgery, and last seaon, it wasn’t about getting goals scored against, it was about putting them in the net. The B’s lost many low scoring games mainly because of their inability score when the chances were there.
So as they begin their 38th year of not having won Lord Stanley’s Cup, there are a lot of questions to this squad. For now, who cares about the questions. It’s hockey season and for me, in October, that’s all that counts.
Published October 8, 2010
As BU Police warn of a rash of bike thefts — and State Police report a grisly hit-and-run today on the Jamaicaway — here are two two-wheeled tales with happy endings.
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The remains of two stolen bicycles in Florence, Italy (Michele Aquila/Flickr)
After he dashed into J.P. Licks in Brookline for ice cream last night, WBUR’s Will Smith discovered his $1,500 bicycle — his only transportation — was gone.
“I was pretty bummed. But then again, I felt pretty stupid,” he says. “I left it out unlocked .”
He was inside all of five minutes, he says.
Will flagged down a Brookline cop, who called in the report. “There’s not much we can do,” the officer told him.
Ten minutes later, Will’s wife greeted him at his front door: “They found your bike.”
They found it deposited behind a store in Allston, an officer later said, probably waiting to be picked up by an accomplice as part of some kind of bike-stealing ring.
Will picked up the bike this morning and asked for a copy of the report so he could write a thank-you note. (“The chief likes getting those,” the officer told him.) The report names Det. Lt. Lipson, Det. Lacy and Det. McDonnell.
“I had no expectation of getting my bike back,” Will says. Now he can have his ice cream and eat it, too.
Meanwhile, in Boston yesterday, a man called police after he saw his stolen bicycle for sale on Craigslist. With the cops’ help, the man arranged a meeting with the sellers to buy the bike. The BPD report takes it from here:
Around 10:15AM, two male suspects rode up on two bicycles to 560 Huntington Ave. and one asked the victim, “Are you the one looking for the bike?” The victim responded affirmatively but stated to the two suspects, “Yes, but I wanted the white bike.” One of the suspects responded to the victim that he had already sold the white bike and attempted to negotiate a deal for the bike that he ridden there. At that time, detectives and officers walked up on the suspects and identified their office.
The two teens admitted to stealing the bikes and were arrested. Incidentally, the man had met one of them two years earlier — when the teen returned the man’s stolen bike for a reward.
Published October 8, 2010
The Herald reports a 35-year-old man was shot dead at 11:40 last night, at the Cathedral public housing project at 42 Harrison Archway, in the South End.
The victim would be Boston’s 50th reported homicide this year, bringing the total to the same as last year’s — with three months before the year’s end.
There were 63 known homicides in Boston in 2008.
Update: The BPD says officers heard the sound of gunshots and responded immediately. The man was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Boston Medical Center.
Update: The victim is identified as Frederick Mathieson, 35. The Globe reports Mathieson is the 56th homicide in Boston this year, according to police. I am working to figure out the disparity in our numbers.
Published October 8, 2010
What’s news on a sunny(!) Friday morning in Boston.
State Treasurer and independent candidate for governor Tim Cahill is suing his former top campaign aides. In a lawsuit filed yesterday, Cahill alleged that his campaign strategists, campaign manager and political consultant conspired to pass critical information about his campaign to Republican candidate Charlie Baker and to the Republican Governors Association. (WBUR)
The juicy political drama outlined emails released with a Cahill campaign lawsuit Thursday overshadowed a rare glimpse into the campaign strategy that led up to Paul Loscocco’s surprise defection into the open arms of Republican Charles Baker. (State House News Service)
Tim Cahill’s lawsuit crying foul about his Republican consultants allegedly consorting with other Republicans on Charlie Baker’s team is irrelevant to voters in this campaign. It serves as a handy excuse for why his campaign has failed. But, when you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. (ElectionWire)
Dee Dee Martin has been in Kathmandu, Nepal, for more than two months, unable to bring her newly adopted daughter back to Massachusetts with her. The U.S. closed adoptions from Nepal because they fear some of the children are being stolen and sold. (WBUR)
For the first time since South Boston crime boss James “Whitey’’ Bulger fled 15 years ago, the US Marshals Service has joined the international manhunt. (Globe)
Published October 7, 2010
Because we parachute in only when bad things happen. At least that’s what I’m hearing.
One thing is clear: Reporters were not welcome at Wednesday’s double-funeral for Eyanna Flonory and Amani Smith. And we weren’t allowed at the funeral the day before, for Simba Martin. The funeral next Monday for the fourth murder victim, Lavaughn Washum-Garrison, is also closed-press.
When I arrived yesterday morning at Morning Star Baptist Church, on Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan, an usher immediately spotted me and said, “Press?” I guess I didn’t look like I belonged.
The church was ready for us. I was introduced to the press liaison, who told me where I could sit and what I could (not) do. No pictures, she said. The ushers reminded me again and again. No pictures.
My colleague Bianca Vazquez Toness and I found a seat at the far end of the balcony. Bianca asked two women behind us for a look at their program; the women scowled and declined.
As the service got underway, Bishop John Borders delivered clear instructions to the congregation:
I would ask you to be mindful enough of the family that if members of the press begin to question you as we’re on our way out, say to them, ‘We are going to the cemetery now. You’ll have to talk to us later.’ Because I don’t want this service to turn into anything else but a time for a community to deal with this grief and mourning and be healed.
The people chanted in approval. “Amen.”
On Tuesday, I felt like I didn’t have the right to photograph the mourners at Martin’s funeral in Roxbury, people I have never covered before. I can’t imagine anything more infuriating than a photographer in your face as you grieve. One woman shouted at me, “Don’t take her picture! Don’t do it!”
But I kept snapping, because I had to tell this story. WBUR ran the photo, as did the Globe and the Herald. No one in, say, Cambridge or Brookline would know this grief unless we showed it to them.
Sometimes reporters make people’s lives unpleasant for the greater good.
In his eulogy, Bishop Borders challenged us: “Stop recording all the bad things that happen in our neighborhood, and learn to start recording the positive things that happen in our neighborhoods.”
I hear it. Bianca and I will be digging into this story more over the next few days.
Previous Coverage:
Published October 7, 2010
Stearman PT-17 "Kaydet" at the Beverly air show (Len Burgess/Flickr)
Len Burgess captured this shiny Stearman propeller plane in flight above Beverly last month. It’s the Hubbub Photo of the Day. Nice work!
Burgess’ images reveal a real eye for color and composition. Don’t miss this sunset over Baker’s Island Light or this amusing scene of photographers snapping a B-17 “Nine-O-Nine.” (PS, check out our lovely slideshow of WWII-era planes from an air show in Norwood last year.)
Want to see your work here? Submit your shots to WBUR’s Flickr group.
Published October 7, 2010
What’s news on a gray Thursday afternoon in Boston:
A man is dead after he allegedly confronted a Lynn police officer, seized his service weapon and shot himself, prosecutors said today. (Globe)
Elliot Doxer, 42, allegedly … provided a variety of information about the customers, employees and business practices of Cambridge-based Akamai Technologies, Inc., an internet content firm where Doxer worked. (Brookline Patch)
Superintendent Carol Johnson wants to close six schools with low test scores and graduation rates, including three in Hyde Park. The plan also calls for merging two schools in Dorchester and creating two charter schools. (WBUR)
In a city that’s seen it’s share of murders, these killings stand out because they broke the rule, people say. Women and children aren’t supposed to die in drug or gang disputes. (WBUR)
Thieves stole 41 bikes in September, compared with 13 the previous September. So far, they’ve walked or ridden off with 76 bicycles in 2010, versus 59 in 2009, says Scott Paré, deputy director of public safety and BU Police Department deputy chief. (BU Today)
What are you reading?