Published November 20, 2010
Just us pigeons.
Turkeys are the new pigeons (mgstanton/Flickr)
Flickr photographer mgstanton snapped this photo of Mama Turkey and her babies at home in Framingham last year. She submitted it to the WBUR Flickr group.
Published November 19, 2010
An unidentified body found in Milton this week could be that of a 16-year-old boy who went missing in North Carolina.
Police had asked the public’s help identifying the body, which was described as that of a black male in his mid-teens. The body was mutilated, and police said one clue was a note found on the body that looks like a hall pass.
The name that appears on that hall pass matches the name of the missing North Carolina boy: Delvonte Tisdale.
The boy’s father told WBTV in Charlotte, N.C., that his son was dead.
WBUR’s Rachel Rohr found the Facebook page of Erica Holloway, who appears to be Tisdale’s older sister. On her page, Holloway writes that Tisdale “ran away from his fathers in North Carolina house Sunday& his body was found”.
In a phone conversation with Rachel, Milton Deputy Police Chief Charles Paris said detectives are en route to North Carolina. Paris was adamant that there is no confirmation of the Milton victim’s identity. For example, someone else could have had Tisdale’s note in his pocket.
Published November 19, 2010
Update: Nope. In a tweet, Patriots PR says the images are fake:
@NFLprguy: just to clarify, the artist renderings of NFL uniforms floating around ARE NOT from the league or Nike. stand down
CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) tweets:
This new Nike Patriots jersey circulating on Twitter IS FAKE http://bit.ly/c9Y4xR NIKE DIDN’T DESIGN THIS
The Herald’s Patriots reporter, Ian Rapoport, showed the sketches to head coach Bill Belichick and asked his opinion:
“Is it a Halloween costume?” Belichick asked. “I thought Halloween was last month. I’m just focused on Indy. If it’s not Indy, there’s a lot of stuff you can get by me today.”
____
Starting in 2012, Nike will be the NFL’s official uniform provider. “We plan on changing the NFL jersey dramatically,” said Charlie Denson, Nike’s brand president, at the time of the announcement last month.
NESN reporter Jeff Howe got a hold of a leaked and unconfirmed sketch of what could be the Patriots’s new uniform. It would certainly live up to Denson’s promise of dramatic change. How much do you hate it? What do you think?
Is this the new Patriots uniform?
Howe says “Captain America” would become one of QB Tom Brady’s many nicknames.
Published November 19, 2010
This weekend, the public finally gets to see for itself what the fuss is about at the Museum of Fine Arts — free admission Saturday! — and no doubt the Paul Reveres and the George Washingtons will be a big draw.
But the Art of the Americas tells a broader story, of course. “It didn’t just start with the coming of the pilgrims in the 17th Century,” said Dorie Reents-Budet, curator of the Art of the Ancient Americas gallery.
“In fact, the art of the americas started literally tens of thousands of years ago as human beings moved into the western hemisphere and developed these complex societies.”
WBUR’s Andrea Shea and Jesse Costa spoke with Reents-Budet and critics about one of the most anticipated galleries of the MFA’s expansion.
Published November 19, 2010
Good morning! We’re following a status hearing for Aiden Quinn, the T operator facing charges in last year’s Green Line crash. He may change his plea to guilty. (Update: No change of plea.) And the city of Boston’s official, 50-foot Christmas tree is scheduled to be delivered to Boston Common this morning.
Here’s the news on a cold Friday in Boston:
The state’s high court ordered a shakeup of the probation department. An independent counsel found widespread corruption in the department, which was first reported in the Boston Globe. The court ordered the commissioner fired. (Globe)
Sen. Scott Brown introduced a measure to let states opt out of President Obama’s health care plan more quickly. Sen. John Kerry opposes the waiver. (Globe)
The Mass. jobless rate dropped to 8.1 percent last month. That puts us right in the middle of the national pack. (Herald)
Mass. has banned caffeinated alcoholic drinks. Retailers must remove them from shelves immediately, including those cans of Four Loko that people are now hoarding. (WBUR)
A Cambridge priest once accused of stalking Conan O’Brien is charged with harrassing a WCVB host. Rev. David Ajemian, 49, will be arraigned today. (Herald)
The MFA expansion opens to the public tomorrow. A review in the New York Times declares: “Five years after breaking ground, the new Art of the Americas Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts here is opening on Saturday, and it’s a wow.” (New York Times)
Published November 18, 2010
Finding common ground about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is never easy — and at one reform synagogue in Newton, it wasn’t even possible to have the conversation.
Jeremy Ben-Ami (J Street)
Temple Beth Avodah abruptly cancelled a talk with Jeremy Ben-Ami, the controversial executive director of J Street, after a “small, influential group” of congregants voiced strong opposition to his appearance, according to the rabbi quoted in the Globe. The event was moved to a nearby school.
J Street is a young, liberal nonprofit that lobbies for a peaceful two-state solution to the Middle Eastern conflict.
“I didn’t expect this to happen with a reform synagogue, but when it comes to Israel, opinion in the Jewish community is very divided,” said Stephen Maas, editor of the Boston-based Jewish Advocate, who was scheduled to interview Ben-Ami tonight.
When J Street came on the scene two years ago, it was the first significant pro-Israel group to lobby for anything other than unconditional support for Israel.
“The group has succeeded in provoking a tremendous amount of debate about the political and emotional relationships of American Jews to Israel,” writes Allison Hoffman in Tablet Magazine. (Hoffman is a friend.) She writes:
Ben-Ami has managed, in a remarkably short time, to build something unprecedented in the decades-long history of leftwing American Jewish activism: an organization with the capacity to raise millions of dollars to win political support for ideas about Israel and the peace process that are frequently at odds with the positions articulated by organs of the Jewish establishment.
“People are not used to hearing a variety of voices when it comes to supporters of Israel,” said Ben-Ami, speaking to WBUR’s Morning Edition. “Often that leads to some very difficult discussions within the Jewish community, and there are many out there … who prefer that we just not have the conversation.”
Ben-Ami joined Radio Boston on Wednesday for a more expansive interview about the topic.
What do you think? Is the American Jewish community ready to talk about anything other that unconditional support of Israel?
Published November 18, 2010
WBUR’s Benjamin Swasey reports:
Massachusetts’ highest court is ordering a major shake-up of the state Probation Department after an independent review discovered what the justices described as a system of “systemic abuse and corruption of the hiring and promotion processes.”
Here is the report of independent counsel Paul Ware:
Published November 18, 2010
“Buildings might collapse, so proceed with caution, but we’ve got the only Taco Bell in Boston!”
[youtube url=”nhl6o-pdN9I”]
The Huntington News writes it up.
The complete lyrics are on Drew D’Agostino’s blog.
Published November 18, 2010
Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1974 (AP)
Have you been following the #MAHeritage tag on Twitter? People are tweeting intangible bits of our state’s rich and bizarre heritage — the “only in Massachusetts” stuff.
It started 24 hours ago with a tweet from Boston Phoenix writer David Bernstein (@dbernstein):
What would be on your list of Boston/Mass/New England “Intangible Cultural Heritage” items? #maheritage
There are some 1,500 entries so far, by my count. Some great examples:
@joegrav: Pretending to like Aerosmith
@GarrettQuinn: Zoom on WGBH
@shirazita: Mr. Butch!
@MakenaCahill: Actually knowing people who are descendant of Pilgrims. And admitting it.
@nickpizz: Molasses flood destroys East Boston.
@StevenEBrown: Make it in Massachusetts
@BarnacoatWBZ: The “leaning tower of pizza” on Route 1
@CharlieTicotsky: “Save Fenway Park” bumper stickers
@AssignGuy: Blizzard of ’78.
@MediaGalChloe: Quality, comfort and price, that’s nice
What are your #MAHeritage contributions? Leave them in the comments or tweet us @WBUR.
Published November 18, 2010
A man undergoes a full-body scan at Chicago's O'Hare airport, where I'll be next week. (AP)
You may know by now that Nov. 24 — the day before Thanksgiving and probably busiest day of air travel this year — is “National Opt-Out Day.” It’s a protest against the full-body scanners at airports, the current target of the Internet’s rage.
The ACLU of Massachusetts has written a comprehensive guide to a traveler’s rights at the airport (and a PDF version). You are not required to pass through a body scanner, even if a TSA agent pressures you. Opting out would subject you to a “standard pat-down,” which you can request to do in private. If you choose to be screened in private, you can ask to take a witness with you.
WBUR’s Bianca Vazquez Toness reports Logan hasn’t gotten many complaints about the scanners. Boston will likely be the first in the nation to get “stick figure” scanners that don’t show “a person’s lumps and bumps.” The Herald gets an explanation from a TSA spokesman:
“All you’ll have is [a] stick figure and a little block around each anomaly on you,” George Naccara of the Transportation Security Administration said of the new scanners due to arrive by late winter.
“For example,” Naccara said, “if I walk through the new machine . . . there would be a block around my cell phone . . . a block around my belt. But there would not be a human image of me.”
Jeffery Goldberg at the Atlantic suggests a super-fantastic twist on National Opt-Out Day: Everyone at the airport should wear a kilt.
The TSA maintains that Americans would rather arrive safely than untouched. “I’m not going to change those policies,” the nation’s transportation security chief, John Pistole, declared. He spoke with All Things Considered on Wednesday.
The blog post that started it all is from a San Diegan who said he caused a scene after refusing to be felt up.