Weekend Redux: What You Missed
Just because you spent all weekend enjoying the warm weather while it lasts, it doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.
Saturday
So. Joe Biden. Good for him. Not so good for Barack Obama’s supporters, who got a text message in the wee hours of Saturday morning “announcing” the pick after it had been leaked to the media.
Another day, another firefighter gets busted with drugs. This time, pot was found in the Newton fire chief’s car during a routine cleaning.
“The discovery came as a shock to me,” [Chief Joseph] LaCroix said in the written statement. “I have never imperiled the safety of Newton firefighters or the general public by using or possessing illegal drugs.”
Dan Grabauskas doles out raises, and the furor is immediate. The Boston City Council gives its support staff bonuses, and everyone is livid. Mayor Tom Menino hands out raises of as much as 4.5 percent and everyone’s totally fine with it. It’s good to be the most powerful man in Boston.
Sunday
If you waited with baited breath to get the full story from Clark Rockefeller in the Globe, you should probably inhale before you pass out. The paper hyped the interview late last week, but the alleged kidnapper’s lawyer kept him from discussing anything before 1993. But do check out the audio on Boston.com—Rockefeller sounds much less weenie-ish than we thought he would.
Another woman claims a Boston firefighter raped her. Deputy Fire Chief Peter Pearson is already facing charges that he allegedly stalked and raped a prostitute in Brockton.
MBTA employees who are shy about doing their business with an audience may soon have a problem. New federal standards will require transit workers who’ve tested positive for drugs or have been suspected of tampering with their urine samples to undergo drug testing with an observer present.
Local politicians are pleased that Joe Biden is Barack Obama’s running mate.
Is Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield contributing to the foreclosure crisis? A New Hampshire-based lender that uses the Sox player as a pitchman (har har) is under fire for being allowed to stay in business despite forging customers’ signatures and dumping records.
