House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi said he paid off the balance of an unusual $250,000 third mortgage on his North End condominium yesterday, after the lender, his close friend Richard D. Vitale, who is under scrutiny for work he did last year on behalf of the state’s ticket brokers, registered as a lobbyist.
Surely all their problems are solved.
“The statute speaks of promoting legislation,” [Secretary of State Bill] Galvin said. “Clearly what Mr. Vitale did was to promote legislation. It is no longer in dispute. We’ll wait for the additional reports to come in from the other entities and explore them for their thoroughness and completeness.”
We just have one question: If King Sal had the money kicking around to pay a $250,000 mortgage off in one fell swoop, why did he need it in the first place?
Just because you spent all weekend stocking up on tequila and chips for Cinco de Mayo doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.
Saturday
On Friday, Boston.com picked up an AP story with the best headline ever. Then the prudes in the Globe newsroom changed it to “Data dispel image of cocaine user.” This is why newspapers are dying.
“He leveled his eyes at me and he said, ‘I’ve been in this building for a long time, Jen,’ and, ‘I wanted you to know that I could make things real difficult for you. I mean, Jen, I could really hurt you if I wanted to,’ ” [Sutton Rep. Jennifer] Callahan told her colleagues.
While the reps may be physically insecure, at least their votes may be getting safer. Lawmakers voted unanimously to form a committee to find a secure voting system and eliminate phantom votes.
The paper also reports that parking lot owners are ignoring the limit on their licenses and are cramming in as many cars as possible. On the positive side, city and federal officials don’t have enough staff to make sure lots aren’t over their limit, so you shouldn’t worry about parking becoming even more scarce any time soon.
Just because you spent all weekend enjoying the sun doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.
Saturday
The latest round of phantom voting continues to shake Beacon Hill. Several rank-and-file House members claim they’ve seen legislators vote for absent colleagues, but leadership is keeping quiet about its investigation. House Speaker Sal DiMasi’s spokesman told the Herald he’s “looking in to it.”
The phantoms in the House may soon be voting on a Senate-approved measure that would ban pharmaceutical companies from providing gifts to doctors. Other states have similar measures, but Massachusetts would be the first state to ban gifts of any monetary value. Naturally, drug companies are less than thrilled.
“Strictly interpreted, the ‘anything of value ban’ could bring clinical trials to a halt in Massachusetts, severely cut into necessary and mandated continuing educational studies undertaken by physicians, and mean that fewer new medicines are readily available to patients,” the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council wrote in a letter to lawmakers.
Saturday It’s all economic downturn all the time in Saturday’s Globe. Whether we’re learning that people aren’t eating deep dish pizza at Uno’s as often as they used to, or diesel prices are soaring, the message is that we’re all screwed. Even spendthrift Gov. Deval Patrick may have to consider budget cuts.
Speaking of the Governor, his approval ratings are dropping like a stone. While he hasn’t reached a President Bush-like number, things have never been this bad for him.
More Bay State residents disapprove of Governor Deval Patrick’s job performance than approve, according to a new poll. Forty-nine percent said they disapproved, while 41 percent approved, the SurveyUSA/WBZ-TV poll suggested.
First Bob Lobel, now the entire station may get the boot. Land-hungry Harvard University is in talks with WBZ to buy the station’s property in Allston.
Just because you spent all weekend trying to figure out those heinous Blue Jays uniformsdoesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.
Saturday The Red Sox continue their bid to make visiting Fenway Park a pipe dream for most families by auctioning off Green Monster seats to the highest bidder. Monster seats for a Sox-Yankees game went for as much as $519 each.
But don’t worry, middle-class families. Ownership is doing it for you.
“We feel it’s our civic responsibility to keep tickets affordable for fans,” said Ron Bumgarner, vice president of ticketing, “and at the end of the day, this helps keep other ticket prices down.”
It proves he’s still tone deaf when it comes to understanding politics and the media in the commonwealth” said Tobe Berkovitz, interim dean of the Boston University School of Communications.
“Candidate Patrick campaigned on transparency, and he told us that he would be a full-time governor,” Rob Willington, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said in a statement. “At this point, his book should have a whole section on how to run a misleading and disingenuous political campaign.”
Ah well. There are more important things to think about. Like whether the governor can actually write worth a damn. He can’t possibly do worse than this unfunny top 10 list from the Herald.
DiMasi gave the lawmakers coveted committee posts, some of which include $7,500 stipends, in late February as lobbying over casinos began to intensify. Those lawmakers, after previously supporting casinos or voting to legalize slot machines, came out against Patrick’s bill in Thursday’s decisive vote.
It’s called “playing politics.” And Sal DiMasi is good at it.
Just because you spent all weekend feeling jet-lagged by the time change doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.
Saturday Oh Samantha Power. Before she resigned from Barack Obama’s campaign for her comments about Hillary Clinton’s monstrosity, she was digging the candidate into a hole about his Iraq policy.
“You can’t make a commitment in March of 2008 about what circumstances are going to be like in January 2009,” said Power. . . . “He will, of course, not rely upon some plan that he has crafted as a presidential candidate or a US senator. He will rely upon an operational plan that he pulls together in consultation with people on the ground.”
Obama insists he will stick to his pledge to bring the troops home.
Just because you spent all weekend waiting for Randy Moss to re-sign doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.
Saturday It was all about the Leap Year babies on Friday. Dwello “Dewey” DePippo, who is 96-years-old but celebrated his 24th birthday, told some newborn leap babies how to make it to his ripe old age.
“I’ve never been drunk - not in my whole life,” said DePippo, who lives in Methuen.
“I lived this long because I haven’t been a bad boy, if you get my drift,” DePippo said. “And I’ve been good to people, and people have been good to me.”
Keep it in your pants, don’t get sloppy, and don’t be a jerk. Advice we can all live by.
Well, well, well. Look who’s trying to get all their ducks in a row.
It’s all economic downturn all the time in Saturday’s Globe. Whether we’re learning that people aren’t 
The Red Sox continue their bid to make visiting Fenway Park a pipe dream for most families by 
Come on. Somebody’s got to be excited about adding Gov. Deval Patrick’s autobiography to their 
House Speaker Sal DiMasi made 
Oh Samantha Power. Before she resigned from Barack Obama’s campaign for her comments about Hillary Clinton’s monstrosity, she was 
It was all about the