Thursday Morning: Levine Jobless; Jobless Rate Steady

Published March 3, 2011

Good morning! It’s bitterly cold out there — wind chill of 10 below. Bundle up.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of free speech but against decency in Snyder v. Phelps (no relation), a case that Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley had weighed in on. The court ruled protestors could picket military funerals. In a statement after the decision, Coakley said: “We respect the First Amendment rights of our citizens, but we also believe that, consistent with those principles, families have rights to honor their loved ones free from disruptive and harmful protests.”

First we learned he was out for the season — now James Levine is out for good come September. The celebrated BSO maestro has suffered from debilitating back problems. It’s a huge loss for Boston cultcha.

The Mass. unemployment rate held steady last month, at 8.3 percent. That’s still lower than the national jobless rate. The state added 5,600 jobs in January.

WBUR’s Bob Oakes interviewed the departing head of Genzyme, the second-largest biotech firm in Mass. The company was (finally) sold to French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis after a long courtship. Henri Termeer says the company is in good hands.

Boston’s 2011 Murder Count Is Down From Last Year

Published March 1, 2011

A fatal stabbing last week in Dorchester brings Boston’s 2011 homicide count to three — less than half of last year’s tally at this time, seven.

Why? We may never know. It’s easy to assume the abnormal snowfall has kept more people inside.

The news of last week’s homicide passed right by me. Prosecutors say Cherry Clinton, 29, stabbed her boyfriend to death in a domestic dispute on the morning of Feb. 25. It happened at 80 Ames Way.

At her arraignment Monday, Clinton said the death was accident — that she grabbed the knife in self-defense as her boyfriend, 23-year-old Lancelot Reid, lunged toward her. Prosecutors argue it would be difficult for a knife to penetrate layers of clothing and flesh without force.

The Herald reports at least five people have died from domestic violence this year, according to the Massachusetts advocacy group Jane Doe, Inc.

I updated  WBUR’s map of Boston homicide victims.

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Update: Boston Police reported a fourth homicide after two men were shot early Wednesday in the Theater District. The Globe reports the 29-year-old victim is Jamie Lee, a local rapper aka Roc Dukati. The other man survived. Police arrested two men, Andrew Flonory, 26, of Brockton and Joshua Hollis, 22, of Cambridge, on weapons charges. Neither Flonory nor Hollis are charged in the death. Flonory is the brother of Eyanna Flonory, the woman killed in the mass Mattapan murders of September 2010.

If Heaven Exists, Peter Gomes Is There

Published March 1, 2011

Rev. Professor Peter Gomes delivered a sermon at Boston's Old South Meeting House ahead of the inauguration of Gov. Deval Patrick on Jan. 4, 2007.

Rev. Professor Peter Gomes delivered a sermon at Boston's Old South Meeting House ahead of the inauguration of Gov. Deval Patrick on Jan. 4, 2007. (Pool photo by Janet Knott via AP)

He was a black, Republican, openly gay man of God. He assumed a bow tie and that wonderfully pedantic Harvard accent. Rev. Peter Gomes, the Harvard Divinity School professor, died Monday night after suffering a heart attack and brain aneurysm. He was 68.

The Crimson first reported Gomes had planned to deliver the Easter sermon at Memorial Church, which he oversaw for three decades. His health deteriorated in December 2010 after suffering a stroke. WBUR’s CommonHealth proclaimed then: “Now is a good time to pray that stroke will not silence one of the best-known orators of our time.”

Gomes was a man who practiced what he preached, the New York Times reports, denouncing any interpretation of the Bible that forgives intolerance. His career was voluminous:

He was a thundering black Baptist preacher, and for much of his life was a conservative Republican celebrity who wrote books about the Pilgrims, published volumes of sermons and presided at weddings and funerals of the rich and famous. He gave the benediction at President Ronald Reagan’s second inaugural and delivered the National Cathedral sermon at the inaugural of President George H. W. Bush.

Gomes announced he was gay in 1991, during a speech protesting homophobic articles in a campus magazine. He said, to everyone’s surprise, he was “a Christian who happens as well to be gay.” He ignored calls to resign.

“What distressed me was that among people and in a culture which professes tremendous excitement and loyalty to Jesus, there seems to be so very little attention paid to what Jesus actually had to say,” Gomes said in a talk aired on NPR in 2007. He was discussing his new book, “The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus.”

“Everybody has a view on the humanity, of the divinity of Jesus. Everybody wants to know about the historical Jesus, but it’s all about Jesus, and it would be as if he came to be the celebrity — or worse, the great Bible teacher.”

In 2009, WBUR’s Here & Now interviewed Gomes about his Plymouth roots and fascination with the pilgrims.  Gomes recited Arthur Guiterman’s 1935 poem “The D.A.R. lings” in a WBUR video.

You can stream Gomes’ many sermons at the Memorial Church website.

Radio Boston interviewed colleague Harvard colleague Diana Eck about Gomes.

Redacted: Kennedy Arranged To Rent Chilean Brothel

Published February 28, 2011

When the FBI released the Edward M. Kennedy files in June 2010, about 10 months after his death, a 1961 State Department memo about his visit to South America was heavily redacted. Now we know why.

A less-redacted version of the memo reveals that a young Kennedy arranged to “rent” a brothel in Santiago, Chile, in December 1961. The memo also says Kennedy insisted on meeting with “communists and others who had left-wing views,” whom he called “the angry young men” of the country.

A conservative Washington-based advocacy group called Judicial Watch fought to un-redact Kennedy files under the Freedom of Information Act. After battling with the FBI for months in litigation, Judicial Watch got its way.

“Our tough fight with the Obama administration shows that it was not keen on letting the American people know that Ted Kennedy, one of Obama’s leftist politician heroes, liked to hang out with communists and prostitutes,” the group said in a statement.

Judicial Watch says it uses FOIA laws to unseal corruption and unbecoming behavior.

Update: And now the FBI’s official page for the Kennedy files is 404’d.

Celtics Trade Perkins And Robinson To Thunder

Published February 24, 2011

So, how’s Shaq’s bum leg doing?

Boston Celtics' Nate Robinson, left, with injured teammate Kendrick Perkins in November 2010

Boston Celtics' Nate Robinson, left, with injured teammate Kendrick Perkins in November 2010 (Winslow Townson/AP)

That’s the question on everyone’s mind following reports the Celtics have shipped out center Kendrick Perkins and backup sparkplug Nate Robinson. Center Shaquille O’Neal will have to get back on the court — his latest ailment is an inflamed Achilles tendon — if the Celtics are to contend for banner No. 18.

As of early evening Thursday, Yahoo Sports and the Boston Globe report Perk and Robinson are headed to Oklahoma City in exchange for forward Jeff Green and center Nenad Krstic. The Globe reports that the Celtics will also receive the LA Clippers’ 2012 first-round pick.

Though not one of Boston’s four All-Stars, starter Perkins has established himself as an important cog, defensively and on the boards. Last year, before battling injuries this season, Perk averaged almost two blocks and almost eight rebounds per game. Perk has been especially important against other elite big men, such as Orlando’s Dwight Howard and LA’s Andrew Bynum.

Since being drafted out of high school, Perkins has spent all eight seasons in green.

As Donkey to Celtics forward Glen Davis’ Shrek, Robinson is known as a beloved teammate who can score in bunches. He has been used to spell point guard Rajon Rondo.

So far this year, Green averaged 15.2 points and nearly six rebounds per game. Krstic is averaging just over seven points and four rebounds per game.

The Celtics are also reportedly parting with rookies Luke Harangody and Semih Erden, for a Cleveland Cavaliers second-round pick, and Marquis Daniels, for cash from the Sacramento Kings.

Masstronaut Rides A Historic Mission Into Space

Published February 24, 2011

http://cdn.wbur.org/media/special/2011/hubbub_0224_masstronaut-discovery-shuttle-launch

At 4:53 p.m., the official launch time of space shuttle Discovery, Cohasset native Steve Bowen became the first astronaut ever to fly consecutive NASA missions in space.

Bowen last flew on Atlantis in May 2010. He wasn’t even supposed to be on board Thursday, but Mission Specialist Tim Kopra got injured in a bike accident six weeks ago.

Bowen graduated from Cohasset High School in 1982. “He was an outstanding student,” said Assistant Principal Michael Gill, who was a health teacher there at the time, in a WBUR interview. “I don’t know if anyone really knows exactly what they’re going to do when they’re in high school, but he had an idea he wanted science and math.”

Gill said the would-be astronaut was a goalie on Cohasset High’s hockey team and a good athlete, too. Bowen went on to earn a degree in ocean engineering from MIT in 1993.

Today’s was the 39th and final launch of Discovery, which has racked up 142,917,535 miles on the odometer. The shuttle will dock with the International Space Station to deliver spare parts.

In 1984 and 2005, Discovery was first to “return to flight,” in NASA parlance, after the Challenger and Columbia accidents, respectively.

If You Missed It: Health Care Idiot

Published February 24, 2011

There is a lot of jargon in the debate to fix health care.

Gov. Deval Patrick announced a bill that would seek  “comprehensive payment reform” with a system of “global payments,” “accountable care organizations” and “medical homes.” You follow, right?

I (tried to) explain global payments, the buzzword of the moment, last week. The concept is hard to understand because it’s a fundamental change to the way we pay for health care.

WBUR’s All Things Considered host, Sacha Pfeiffer, quizzed me on some of the other buzzwords. I fared, well, OK.

Wednesday Roundup: Today In T

Published February 23, 2011

Orange Line train in the snow

Orange Line train in the snow (biggie_robs/Flickr)

The T is introducing a plan to cover a projected $130 million deficit (a small piece of its multi-billion-dollar debt) without cutting service or raising fares, the Globe reports. The plan calls for the following:

  • Stop giving refunds to customers who wait 30+ minutes for a ride
  • Sell more advertising, right down to the Charlie Card
  • Keep staffing levels low, below 6,000 employees
  • Sell parking revenue to investors in exchange for cash upfront
  • Lease a parking garage below TD garden

People are really unhappy about that first idea, the Herald reports. Doing away with refunds would require an amendment to the T’s “Customer Bill of Rights,” which is framed in a display case at T headquarters. “The bottom line is that we cannot afford that program anymore,” MBTA General Manager Richard Davey said to the Herald.

The MBTA says it also plans to introduce countdown clocks for Red, Orange and Blue Line trains. It’s not clear how much that would cost.

What do you think?

Speaking of the MBTA, the woman who lost and then found her snake on a Red Line train is now stuck with a $650 bill. Workers had to disinfect and sterilize the trolley car where the snake was found. (“So, the MBTA only scrubs and disinfects trains when a snake is found on board? Gross.”)