Archive for Massachusetts
Recent Stories for Massachusetts
Ballot measure to retire dog racing in state is tight
Category: Gaming · State: Massachusetts · Source: Boston Globe
A grainy video posted on YouTube shows an octet of lean greyhounds speeding around the track at the Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park. Suddenly, one dog skids and collides with another before tumbling end over end and hitting a wall.
A hideous finale, but not the end of the line for the fallen greyhound. In a second video, now being promoted as a counterargument by track owners, the dog is back in action, competing again at Wonderland Park in Revere.
The disparate images highlight the dramatically different perceptions of the ballot question that could end dog racing by 2010. On one side, the dog defenders who came close to banning racing in 2000 are decrying kennel conditions and highlighting injuries that greyhounds suffer during races. On the other, track owners say that those injuries are few while the cost in human capital would be substantial if the question passes. A new television ad, sponsored by the opposition group and set to begin airing today, features hundreds of Raynham employees gathered in the track that provides their livelihood.
Backers of pro-pot question fault DA's opposition
Category: Marijuana · State: Massachusetts · Source: Boston Herald
Backers of a pro-marijuana ballot initiative charged today that 11 district attorneys from Massachusetts violated campaign finance laws and twisted the truth about the question. Whitney Taylor of the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy said the DAs raised and spent money to oppose the question before forming their Coalition to Save Our Streets. Campaign finance laws require groups to form a committee before raising and spending money. Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone brushed aside the group's criticism, calling it a "ploy" to distract attention from critics of the ballot question.
Gloucester residents initiate recall of mayor
Category: City Government · State: Massachusetts · Source: Boston Globe
A dozen Gloucester residents representing several community groups have initiated a recall of Mayor Carolyn Kirk, saying her handling of the high school "pregnancy pact" brouhaha was the final straw in her failure to lead the city "fairly and effectively." In a petition being circulated, the group also says the mayor has failed to ensure open government by refusing to investigate and prosecute waste and fraud, particularly in the police and public works departments. Annette Dion, a 45-year-old private music teacher in Gloucester, said the resignation last week of Gloucester High principal Joseph Sullivan, a decision he said was based on what he termed slander by the mayor, was the boiling point in the group's built-up frustrations with Kirk's administration. "We don't agree with Carolyn Kirk's style of leading the city," Dion said. "In many instances, she's not met with people who have asked. She's not really been very good with the public."
Boston Tax Party
Category: Taxes · State: Massachusetts · Source: Wall Street Journal
Massachusetts is about the last place one would expect a tax revolt, but that's what's brewing in Beantown. The state board of elections recently certified that citizen activists have gathered the 125,000 signatures required to qualify an initiative for the November ballot to eliminate the state income tax. The Small Government Act would repeal the 5.3% income and wage tax, as well as the state capital gains tax, which reaches as high as 12%. The ballot initiative would replace the $12.5 billion in taxes with . . . nothing. "One of the points here," explains Carla Howell of the Committee for Small Government that is driving the referendum, "is to force the state legislators to start cutting the bloated state budget." The political shock of having no income tax would force the pols on Beacon Hill to make the difficult spending choices they now refuse to make.
Court Rejects Challenge to Dog-Racing Initiative
Category: Massachusetts · State: Massachusetts · Source: Boston Herald
The state’s highest court has rejected a challenge by dog track owners who wanted to eliminate a November ballot question that asks voters whether to ban dog racing in Massachusetts. The track owners argued the proposed ban could not be put to a statewide ballot vote because it is aimed exclusively at the two places where dog racing currently exists: Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere and the Raynham-Taunton Dog Track in Raynham. But the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that racing amounts to a matter of statewide concern. The court said the Legislature and the people have the power - through the initiative process - to abolish animal racing that involves betting.
Monthly Archives for Massachusetts
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