"Patrick administration avoids local aid cut in budget proposal; News welcome to cities, towns" by Andrew Ryan | Globe Staff, January 21, 2012
For the first time in four years, Massachusetts cities and towns may not face deep cuts in local aid, the lifeblood that helps cities and towns pay for police, trash pickup, tree trimming, and other services.
In its first volley of the budget season, the Patrick administration said yesterday that it would keep state aid to municipalities level, buoying the spirits of mayors, town managers, and selectmen as they begin hammering out spending plans for the coming year.
“The good news is there isn’t bad news,’’ said Mayor Thatcher W. Kezer III of Amesbury. “Revenues have stabilized. Local aid has stabilized.’’
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In the recent fiscal climate, anything short of a cut is good....
Yeah, Hollywood (among other intere$t$) can eat our lunch -- with the state defending it(?) -- as you are left begging for scraps, fellow citizens.
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"Patrick seeks broad changes for community colleges" by Noah Bierman and Frank Phillips | Globe Staff, January 24, 2012
Governor Deval Patrick, speaking last night in his annual State of the Commonwealth address, proposed sweeping changes to the community college system, centralizing authority for 15 campuses and emphasizing job training.
Patrick highlighted the connection between the often overlooked schools and the unemployment problem. Encouraging more cooperation between schools and local employers, he said, would help the state’s 240,000 unemployed get the skills they need to fill an estimated 120,000 current job openings, many of which require specific training.
“We have a skills gap,’’ Patrick told the packed House chamber at the State House. “We can do something about that. We can help people get back to work. And our community colleges should be at the very center of it.’’
Related: Massachusetts Health Ration
Unlike last year’s speech, when excitement from Patrick’s reelection was still spilling over, the governor delivered this address, his sixth, at a moment when he has been overshadowed politically.
His predecessor, Mitt Romney, is locked in a riveting Republican presidential primary contest.
Scroll: Politics
Are you riveted?
Patrick’s state party is focused on helping Democrat Elizabeth Warren challenge US Senator Scott Brown, a Republican, in what may be the nation’s most gripping Senate race.
See: Checking In on the Ma$$achu$ett$ $enate Race
Even Patrick’s lieutenant governor, Timothy P. Murray, has stolen the spotlight with growing interest in his mysterious high-speed rollover crash and in his ties with a former Chelsea Housing Authority chairman Michael E. McLaughlin, who is under federal investigation. Murray received a prolonged ovation from the friendly crowd when he was introduced.
Related: Chelsea Evictions
Also see: McLaughlin raised money for Murray
Murray asks for probe of McLaughlin fund-raising
Despite the budgetary challenges faced by his administration, Patrick cited the state’s high credit rating, its vast improvement in job creation, and his ability to curb public employee benefits without the turmoil that erupted in Wisconsin and other areas of the country....
Yeah, as LONG AS WE ARE IN GOOD with the BANKS we are COOL!!
Also see: New Rules For Unions in Massachusetts
Mass. House Worse Than Wisconsin
Unions Surrender Rights in Massachusetts
He's proud of the fact that unions here obediently bent over and took it?
As for the jobs, yeah, right. That's why tax collections are down but up(??).
Related: Massachusetts tax collections for December $194 million higher than projections
And I quote: "It was the third consecutive month that state tax collections beat estimates."
(Blog editor simply sighs)
Patrick again pushed to dramatically change the medical payment system, renewing an unsuccessful plea he made last year to end the fee-for-service model with a so-called global payment system that rewards doctors for coordinating care.
It's rationing, and it will be coming to you, Americans.
Message from Massachusetts: Don't get sick.
And the governor renewed his support for a modified version of the controversial “three-strikes’’ crime bill that would lengthen sentences for repeat violent offenders, requiring life sentences without parole for those whose third felony is murder or a “similarly heinous act of violence.’’
I thought Massachusetts was a liberal state.
Patrick, however, demanded that the strict new punishments be coupled with his plan to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. He said that state spending on prisons has grown 30 percent over the last decade because of longer sentences for first-time nonviolent drug offenders.
“We have moved, at massive public expense, from treatment for drug offenders to indiscriminate prison sentences and gained nothing in public safety,’’ he said. “Many come out more dangerous than when they come in.’’
But it did make a whole lot of people rich and helped create the prison industrial complex (complete with it$ probation and parole racket$).
Btw, the voters decriminalized marijuana, remember?
Throughout last night’s speech, the governor drew applause from fellow Democrats in the state’s political establishment, who greeted his initiatives warmly.
The future of the state’s community college system has faced renewed questions since November, when a pair of reports described it as disjointed and inadequate in its preparation of students for technical careers.
Patrick reinforced that assessment last night, citing successes within several individual colleges where programs train workers in fields like health care and precision manufacturing.
“We need that kind of sharper mission across the Commonwealth, so that community colleges become a fully integrated part of the state’s workforce development plan,’’ Patrick said....
Community colleges are often overlooked in a state dominated by elite universities including Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but they tend to enroll vast numbers of students and play a crucial role in training workers.
Globe often focuses on those elite colleges, and pffft to workforce training.
See: Cutting Globe's Community College Classes
I thought community colleges were stepping stones for careers. Silly me.
The plan could meet internal resistance, as college presidents are being asked to cede much of their power to a central body. Patrick spoke with community college presidents earlier yesterday, catching many off guard....
Oh, the college presidents were caught off guard(?) again?
It was not the first time a Massachusetts governor has tried to centralize the community college system. The Romney administration put forth its own proposals, which foundered in the Legislature.
But Paul Grogan, chief executive of the Boston Foundation and author of an influential report on community colleges released two months ago, said this time could be different.
“There’s an accountability movement in education now, and also obviously there’s the tremendous problem created by the economy,’’ he said. “This is an opportunity for the schools to be something fundamentally more important than they have been.’’
Reaction to Patrick’s address last night ran along party lines, drawing praise from Democratic leaders in the House and Senate who said they share Patrick’s agenda.
Are you teachers and educators sure Democrats are your friend, and if so, who needs Republican enemies?
The Legislature’s small Republican minority said the governor’s community college plan did not do enough to address the state’s larger economic problems....
No, it doesn't, but that was likely the point. Go off on a tangent.
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Also see: Welcome to My World
You can see where I differ from the top, right?
