Published March 31, 2011

Apparently, we’re in for some more Winter weather. This is no pre-April Fools joke. I don’t want to talk about it.

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Amidst intense scrutiny on non-profit board pay, the state’s second- and third-largest health insurers said yesterday that their board members will continue to pay themselves large salaries. State Attorney General Martha Coakley, who oversees the governance of non-profits, said the companies have failed to adequately explain why they’ll continue the practice.

Boston City Councilor-at-Large Ayanna Pressley has long described herself as a survivor of sexual assault. But during a City Council meeting yesterday, she said she survived rape while studying at Boston University. Pressley spoke with WBUR’s Bob Oakes on Morning Edition this morning.

Tired of waiting for casino compromise on Beacon Hill, gamblers are using computer cafes to skirt rules against gambling in the state. Operators call them Internet cafes, but really, the sweepstakes houses are more like computerized casinos and exist in a gray-area between private business and the public Lottery.

Beaches on the Cape are under attack from an estimated 8 million plastic discs accidentally released from a sewage treatment plant on the Merrimack River in Hooksett, N.H. CapeCodToday has some heartbreaking pictures of the discs covering the shoreline.

As Red Sox fans prepare for the teams’ Opening Day tomorrow in Texas (some teams’ seasons begin today and the Sox are in Boston for the first time next Friday), Boston officials are telling the team to scale down its party. The team hopes to expand the sale of alcoholic mixed drinks at Fenway Park, but authorities aren’t so sure that’s a good idea.

For many students in Boston Public Schools, keeping up with their progress toward graduation is difficult or impossible. They say they’re often surprised by their grades and the classes they’re required to pass to graduate — sometimes after it’s too late. Now, however, some school officials are working to give students an easier way to stay on top of their education.

What we’re following: We’ll continue to report on the changes to the Parole Board and the Probation Department being made on Beacon Hill, the state Democratic lawmakers’ retreat in Western Mass. and state home foreclosure numbers. Radio Boston will speak with the president of the American Federation of Teachers about education reform in unionized schools.

Published March 30, 2011

Firefighters have rescued a veteran MBTA worker after he fell down a 30-foot shaft at the Charles/MGH Red Line T stop this morning. Expect delays on the line, as the T is busing commuters from Kendall Square to Broadway.

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Federal nuclear regulators will visit the State House today in an effort to reassure Gov. Deval Patrick and other legislators that the region’s nuclear power plants are safe. Just yesterday, Mass. Rep. Ed Markey filed legislation in Washington proposing a moratorium on all new nuclear reactor licenses and license extensions.

New rankings say that Nantucket County is the healthiest of the state’s 14 counties. Not surpisingly, Hampden County is the state’s least healthy, according to the study. As WBUR’s Carey Goldberg writes, “what’s most fascinating about these new stats is the ever-growing awareness that non-health factors — income, education — are striking determinants of our health.”

For-profit health care is expanding in Massachusetts, as community hospitals in Taunton and Lowell expect to join the Steward Health Care System soon.

Many college students make sure to include all of the important food groups in their diet: pizza, Chinese, ice cream and tons of cereal. Of course, that’s not the healthiest way to live. One group of Tufts students found that shopping and eating together allowed them to be healthier and happier.

From Massachusetts to Oregon to Texas, states are searching for ways to cut costs and balance the books. The soaring costs of prisons have prompted prison reforms in many other states and Massachusetts may be watching them as an example.

What we’re following: We’ll continue to report on the shakeup at the state Probation Department, the health of the state and the workings of the Governor’s Council. Radio Boston will look at the state’s plan to increase high school Math education.

Published March 29, 2011

Fidelity and Evergreen Solar may have moved jobs out of state, but that hasn’t spared the companies’ executives from a grilling at the State House.

Lawmakers incensed by the outflow of jobs despite tax breaks and other benefits have scheduled a hearing today and asked top executives to appear. Evergreen Solar announced in January that it was closing its Devens plant and laying off 800 workers. Fidelity plans to move over 1,000 workers — most of them out of state — when it closes its plant in Marlborough.

Huge loopholes in the fund that covers health care for poor, uninsured Massachusetts residents have led to millions of dollars in care for out-of-staters, according to the Herald. The overcharging includes payment to addresses out of state and even out of the country, and over $17 million for more than 60,000 “medically unlikely” or “medically unnecessary” claims, with Mass. taxpayers footing the bill.

A group of retired lay employees of the Archdiocese of Boston said the church is pressuring them to take a lower retirement payment than the one they’re owed. The church defended itself and maintains changes must be made in order to pay its retirement obligations.

If you’re still sending letters, you know how interminable the wait for delivery feels in this day of email and instant messaging. A letter sent from Hyde Park, N.Y., in 1945 finally arrived in Gloucester last week. Calling it “Snail Mail” would be an insult to escargot. As the Globe said, “A common garden snail could have made the 173-mile journey in 6 1/2 years. Instead it took 66.”

A giant 200-year-old elm tree is coming down tomorrow. Today is the last full day for admirers to bid the beloved Olmsted Elm, beside the historic home of urban designer Frederick Law Olmsted, adieu.

What we’re following: We’ll continue to report on the abuse of the state’s free health care system, layoffs at UMass Medical School and the Fidelity-Evergreen Solar hearing. Radio Boston will discuss teen texting and its sometimes disastrous consequences.

Published March 28, 2011

State public health officials say that they’ve found a very low concentration of radioactive iodine in a sample of rainwater collected in Boston last week. The contamination is apparently linked to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

To be clear, officials say they’re not worried about the reading and that tests of the Quabbin reservoir, which supplies water to much of Greater Boston, came back negative.

Almost a town unto itself, Harvard University is grappling with the same problem cities and towns across the country are facing: retiree benefits. Harvard stands to be on the hook for almost $1 billion in medical coverage next year, comparable to the obligations of a mid-size city, according to the Globe.

The state Transportation department is pushing ahead with plans to build a commuter rail station near Blue Hill Ave. in Dorchester, despite opposition from some local residents.

I hope you’re enjoying the wonderful, free online content you’re reading right now; the New York Times’ paywall goes into effect today. The newspaper will allow online users to read 20 articles a month at no charge. For $15, users can have unlimited access to the Times’ online content — “about what you pay for a cocktail in Manhattan,” as WBUR’s Curt Nickisch said. On Point will dive into the paywall debate at 10 a.m.

With the Boston teams knocked out early, or not even invited to dance in the first place, UConn is left to carry New England’s March Madness banner. The men’s team continued an improbable run to the Final Four after surviving a tight one against Arizona Saturday. The women’s team continued its awesome, yet expected, march in the women’s bracket. They punched a ticket to the Elite Eight after a surprisingly close win over Georgetown Sunday.

What we’re following: We’ll continue to report on the radiation readings found in Boston as well as the health care crisis facing both the Boston Catholic Archdiocese and local colleges.