$430 million stimulus spending bill approved this week

Springfield Republican reporter Dan Ring wrote Tuesday that state Rep. Karyn Polito, R-Shrewsbury, would not stand in the way of a $430 million spending bill anymore:

“The state House of Representatives today rejected Polito’s amendment to strike $11.6 million in the bill to pay for 47 union contracts, including [...]

The city of Boston is dropping some serious coin at Haymarket.
People know the historic open-air farmer’s market on Blackstone Street is the place to go for cheaper meats and produce inside the hub. But did you know that vendors don’t have to remove their trash?
A Boston Herald story that ran Saturday pointed out that “trash [...]

Last week was a bit uglier than usual on Beacon Hill.
Take – for example – the news that shook Democrat Suzanne Bump’s campaign for state auditor: it’s never a good sign when someone up for an auditing gig gets caught claiming primary residence property tax breaks on two different homes.
Credit for breaking the story – [...]

The Boston Herald’s Hillary Chabot broke a doozey of a story Friday morning when she reported that welfare recipients “can play the slots, pick up a six-pack of beer or nab a flat-screen plasma TV under loosey-goosey Bay State restrictions that allow those on the dole to treat taxpayers’ wallets as their own personal ATM.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1287451&format=text
In [...]

Two Bay State Democrats – one a candidate for state auditor and the other a 13-year incumbent U.S. Congressman seeking reelection in the state’s sixth district – have some explaining to do.
Boston Herald reporter Laurel J. Sweet wrote Thursday that Democratic U.S. Rep. John Tierney refused to speak to the media Wednesday outside U.S. District [...]

Lowell Superintendent Chris Scott released her proposed 2011 budget and it includes 1.8% increase in funding. The proposed budget is expected to change drastically because the state and city still don’t have firm numbers for next year. As it stands K-8 schools will see cuts from last year of $2.5 million and high school will [...]

Is funding local firefighters through a federal grant really a smart solution to likely long term fiscal problems in Belchertown?
Springfield Republican

Only 9% of Lawrence voters participated in the primary to fill former state rep and current mayor William Lantigua’s seat. Marcos Devers won the Democratic primary and will now face independent candidate Rafael Gadea [...]

To get some insight on how the Boston City Council will vote on the controversial new contract for firefighters it’s worth taking a look at the campaign contributions from Boston Firefighters Union Local 718. Since 2007 they have donated over $9800 to campaign coffers of current city council members.

Salvatore LaMattina: $500
Bill Linehan: $600
Maureen Feeney: $1500
Charles [...]

You know things are rough financially when a town is going after unpaid school lunch money. Yes, school lunch money. In Framingham things have gotten so bad that the local school department is going after students with unpaid bills as low as $10. The total unpaid tab of lunch money is estimated to be near [...]

Over 104 employees at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority make over $100,000 a year. They work as auditors, in quality assurance, and of course engineering & construction. Where were they with their six figure salaries before the aquapocaplypse?