Weekend Redux: What You Missed
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.
I am so happy that I went to school back when banks were giving away student loans like credit card companies gave away t-shirts at freshman orientation. College-bound kids today may have to attend their second-choice school if they can’t finance the big-name institution of their dreams.
We hope you logged off iTunes and headed to your favorite music store to celebrate Record Store Day. Maybe we’re old, but we still love the thrill of peeling away the layers of plastic from a CD and flipping through the insert.
Kenmore Square T to stop renovations: Still not done and running over budget. Just another day for the MBTA.
Sunday
If you caught any of the Bruins game on Saturday, you probably lost about three weeks off your life. The black and gold came from behind to force a game seven in Montreal tonight.
Mayoral hopefuls and Tom Menino haters alike will be sad to hear that most Bostonians still love Hizzoner.
Fully 61 percent of people said he should seek another term. A remarkable 54 percent of poll respondents said they have personally met the mayor – testament to his relentless schedule of appearances at community events big and small.
It doesn’t matter how many tax breaks we give Hollywood—if Massholes crash into celebrities, they aren’t going to want to stay here. Sandra Bullock and her husband were hit by a drunk driver in Gloucester after leaving the set of The Proposal.
Unlike their counterparts in Woburn, Boston Police have started making life difficult for the johns who solicit the city’s prostitutes by impounding their cars for 48 hours and fining them $300.
Howie Carr is going to Florida to avoid the Marathon. Let’s hope he left before the road closures for Sunday’s Olympic trials so his head didn’t explode.
