Maybe they will turn it into a TV show:
"State officials are investigating senator, wife for potential campaign finance violations; In suing to block referral to prosecutors, Fattmans also make probe public" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, March 26, 2021
A politically powerful Massachusetts couple is asking a judge to temporarily stop the state’s top campaign finance regulator from referring an investigation into them to state prosecutors, marking an extraordinary turn in what had been a private state probe.
I'm $ure it is penny ante $hit because the big corruption is embedded in the $y$tem.
The request from state Senator Ryan Fattman and Worcester County Register of Probate Stephanie Fattman, both Sutton Republicans, is an unusual one. The couple, as well as their family members and the Sutton Republican Town Committee, last week sued Michael Sullivan, the head of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, and sought an injunction against him. The move effectively pushed Sullivan’s probe — which would typically be kept under wraps at this stage — into public view.
$ilently hunting you all down.
The exact allegations Sullivan is pursuing remain unclear. Sullivan has not referred any case against the Fattmans to Attorney General Maura Healey’s office, which in turn could pursue a criminal or civil probe of its own, and Sullivan’s office has not detailed what it’s investigating. The Fattmans’ lawsuit also accuses Sullivan of not providing a full explanation of the evidence he’s compiled, but the Fattmans — in both their complaint and a lengthy statement released Friday by the senator — said that Sullivan launched a probe in December, including into contributions Ryan Fattman’s campaign made to state and local Republican committees.
Public records show that the four-term senator in August made a $25,000 donation to the Sutton Republican Town Committee, where a relative and fellow plaintiff, Anthony Fattman, is chairman and the senator himself is listed as secretary. The contribution accounted for two-thirds of what the committee raised last year, according to its records.
In the two-plus months after Ryan Fattman’s donation, the town committee reported spending $41,000, with the vast majority of it — $33,253 — coming in the form of in-kind contributions to help Stephanie Fattman’s campaign, including in canvassing and phone calls to buttress her successful reelection to a second, six-year term.
The help was substantial. The in-kind contributions from the town committee accounted for more than half of the $61,500 that Stephanie Fattman reported raising during the same time frame.
It is not clear if these specific donations are the subject of Sullivan’s probe. Fattman did not immediately respond to a phone call or an e-mailed question about whether the $25,000 donation was intended to help his wife’s campaign.
I'm not condoning the nepoti$m or whatever, but it is exactly what I $aid it i$.
Fattman, the Senate’s assistant minority leader, said in a nearly 950-word statement that donating money to GOP entities is a “common practice to help candidates get elected or re-elected.” State law allows candidates to make donations in unlimited amounts to these entities, but, according to Fattman‘s statement, he said Sullivan contends the lawmaker violated a state law that bars candidates from giving more than $100 donation to another candidate. The complaint filed in the lawsuit focuses on OFPC regulations that says candidates may not make contributions to a political committee “on the condition or with the agreement or understanding” that the funds must then be sent to someone else.
Sullivan’s office declined to comment Friday, and referred a reporter to Healey’s office, which is representing Sullivan in the lawsuit. Appearing in a public court hearing Friday, attorneys wrangled over what they can disclose about the lawsuit without publicizing the underlying details of the probe.
WBUR first reported the existence of the lawsuit.....
Not the Globe, and a Roach said “As far as [they] can tell, there’s nothing usual about this case.”
What a nice looking couple!
They should have taken a lesson in Politics 101, which is never criticize a certain chosen group.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Turns out they won't be facing charges after all:
"Study shows no-prosecution policies may work" by Milton J. Valencia Globe Staff, March 29, 2021
The progressive movement to divert nonviolent offenders to treatment rather than charging them with a crime has faced a drumbeat of criticism over the years focused on the same central theme: Criminals who don’t pay for their offenses are more likely to commit a crime again.
Now, a first-of-its-kind independent research study conducted in Suffolk County has undercut this opposition. The study, which analyzed nearly two decades of data, found that not prosecuting low-level crimes was more successful in directing nonviolent offenders away from the criminal justice system.
The idea may have some validity in certain instances; however, producing a $elf-$erving report with preconceived conclusions to justify what you want to do is a bit much.
The report is among the first to support, with data, the progressive criminal justice movement away from tough-on-crime tactics and toward policies that divert defendants accused of certain low-level crimes to social service programs, rather than the criminal justice system. The belief is that the diversion prevents a cycle of incarceration and repeat offenses.
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins won a surprise victory in 2018 touting these types of policies, overcoming more conservative opponents who vowed to be tougher on crime. Since taking office in 2019, Rollins has had to fend off criticism that her effort to effectively decriminalize 15 categories of nonviolent low-level crimes such as shoplifting and driving offenses is too easy on criminals; her opponents argue that letting criminals go without punishment encourages them to commit more crimes.
Hmmmmmmmm!
Her critics have included police officers and commanders, as well as her fellow district attorneys. Former police commissioner William Gross, who retired in January, blamed Rollins’s policies for spikes in street crime last year during the pandemic.
How did street crime rise when we were all in lockdown?
Alexandra Natapoff, a Harvard Law School professor who was not involved in the study but has conducted similar work, said the research — and Rollins’s willingness to make the data available — reflects a broader realization in criminal justice circles that tough-on-crime approaches don’t always work, and that prosecutions for minor crimes can have lasting, unintended consequences for a defendant.
They haven't cared during the decades of frame-ups (oh, the poor $tate court $y$tem), and what about the victims?
What’s more, the burden of having a case proceed through the criminal justice system could cause hardships to a defendant, economic and otherwise. The study found that charges not dismissed at the outset could take six months or longer to proceed through the courts, and even then, only a quarter of those cases end up with a guilty finding, the study found, suggesting that a policy to drop such cases earlier in the process can help reach the same conclusion far sooner.
Why are the courts so clogged because justice delayed is justice denied, according to a fella.
“This [study] is extraordinary insight into the way this public policy actually operates on the ground,” said Natapoff, author of the book “Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal.”
“The potential for greater justice, greater public safety, and greater cost savings are enormous,” she said.....
Now THAT is the Ju$tu$ $y$tem I know!
Related:
"The state Ethics Commission has dropped its investigation into the alleged Christmas Eve road rage incident involving Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins, telling the woman who filed the complaint that after “a careful review” the office has determined that “the matter doesn’t warrant further action by this office.” “Please be assured that we take all matters presented to us seriously,” wrote special investigator Paul Murray to Katie Lawson of Dorchester. “We appreciate your concern and we thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.” Ronald Sullivan, a private lawyer who represented Rollins in the investigations, said in a statement that the commission’s finding fully vindicated Rollins....."
Being a member of the Politboro, 'er, Party has its perks, and can you believe “everyone is scared of her?”
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins gave researchers access to Suffolk County crime data in February 2019 (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins (Nancy Lane/Pool)
Maybe she should abandon her post, 'eh, before the place begins to look like Baltimore.
Also see:
"Sonia Chang-Díaz, a seven-term Jamaica Plain state senator and a vocal critic of the Baker administration’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, said Monday she is seriously considering a run for governor, making her the first currently elected Democrat to publicly eye a campaign. Chang-Díaz, who turns 43 on Wednesday, has been a longtime advocate for school funding reform and last year helped negotiate the Legislature’s sweeping policing bill, elevating her into some of Beacon Hill’s fiercest policy fights....."
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
"Bedford woman who was beaten died on her favorite beach in Maine" by John R. Ellement Globe Staff, March 29, 2021
Rhonda Pattelena was the mermaid in her family. She loved the sand between her toes and considered the beaches in York, Maine, her favorite place, both as a child and as the mother of three boys.
“We used to go there every summer, every summer,” Rhonda’s sister, Jessica Pattelena, said Monday. “She was a mermaid. She loved the beach. She always had her toes in the sand. She loved the waves.”
Pattelena, 35, was at Short Sands Beach in York Friday afternoon intent on sharing her joy with Jeffrey Buchannan, the father of her 2-year-old son who had recently reentered her life. Shortly before 4 p.m., in the view of other beachgoers, Buchannan allegedly killed Pattelena behind a large rock, authorities said, on a sandy strip she had long considered a safe haven.
“She just really loved him,” Melissa Matranga, a close friend who grew up with Pattelena, said of Buchannan. “She saw good in him when there really was no good in him. She just wanted to believe that he was her soulmate.”
The cause of death was blunt force injury to the head, police said. Buchannan, 33, was taken into custody without incident and charged with murder. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in York County Superior Court in Alfred, Maine, authorities said.
It was at least the second time Buchannan had physically attacked her, officials said. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to assaulting her and kidnapping her and her two sons from earlier relationships, court records show. Buchannan was sentenced to two years behind bars. The case began when Pattelena alerted a State Police trooper at Logan Airport that Buchannan had assaulted her and would not let her children leave her Lawrence home, according to the Essex district attorney’s office.
Matranga, who has launched a GoFundMe page for Pattelana, said she did not know when Pattelena and Buchannan reunited. She did not approve of their relationship because of his previous violence, she said.
Despite her misgivings, she did what she could do to support her friend. Her support came with a requirement: the two women agreed on a code word that Pattelena could use if she were in trouble. Pattelena chose the word ostrich.
How appropriate.
The only thing worse than this tragedy is the insultingly flippant way this report reads.
It reads a Jerry Springer script, folks.
It goes to show that 25 years after OJ women have gained nothing vis-a-vis domestic violence, with #MeToo a complete flameout as well.
I understand the battered women's syndrome thing, and that is what makes this accounting by the Globe even more disappointing. It's a femini$t paper and yet it soft sells this atrocity.
Matranga said she is sure the attack happened suddenly and that Pattelena never knew the danger she was in.
“I don’t believe for one minute she would have just sat there and not done anything,” Matranga said. “I believe in my heart, she would have texted me.”
OMG!
In the middle of an assault she is going to text?
She obviously knew of the danger based on previous conduct, and what triggered the guy?
What were they talking about on the beach?
She cheated on him when he was in jail?
Pattelena was a deeply kind, generous person, her sister and friend said, and a devoted mother to her sons, ages 17, 14, and 2.
“She was an amazing mother and she was raising some amazing kids. She always did her best for them,” Jessica Pattelena said. “She had the most beautiful soul you could ever meet. All she ever wanted to do was to help people.”
Pattelena and her boys had moved to Bedford about three months ago. Pattelena, who had worked as a health care aide, was taking online classes to become a licensed practical nurse.
“She wanted to better their lives and she loved the school system there,” Jessica Pattelena said.
I'm not doubting any of that, but the casual write-off of domestic violence strikes me as strange.
Matranga said she learned of Pattelena’s death about four hours after she was killed when Pattelena’s mother called to say that she had not picked up her 2-year-old from day care. Matranga tried to contact Pattelena and when she didn’t get a reply, Pattelena’s mother called the police, who told her what had happened.
I can't imagine the reaction on the other end of the line when they did.
You call to report a missing person and they say she's dead!
She must have been howling and wailing on the other end.
Matranga said her goal, one shared by Pattelena’s family and her wide circle of friends, is to focus on the happiness she brought to others and to pay tribute to her love of York. A candlelight vigil is planned for Friday in Maine and Pattelena’s loved ones hope to install a memorial bench in the town’s Ellis Park.
“For her it was a peaceful place, calm and relaxing,” Matranga said. “I just want people to focus on the kind of person she was, and to keep her memory alive.”
Looks like the denial phase of grief still, andI feel sorry for her.
Who will take care of the children?
"Fall River couple indicted for murder and neglect in death of man’s 14-year-old disabled son" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff, March 29, 2021
A Bristol Country grand jury on Friday indicted a Fall River man and his girlfriend on murder and neglect charges stemming from the October death of the man’s 14-year-old intellectually disabled son, who had fentanyl in his system at the time he died, authorities said.
In a statement, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III’s office identified the defendants as John Almond, 33, and Jaclyn Marie Coleman, 26. It wasn’t immediately clear who is representing the pair in court.
Almond and Coleman were both indicted on charges of second-degree murder and neglect of a disabled person resulting in serious bodily injury, the statement said. Coleman was also indicted on a charge of withholding evidence for allegedly trying to destroy a cellphone in the presence of police officers.
The case stems from the Oct. 21 death of 14-year-old David Almond, as well as the alleged neglect of his sibling, Michael Almond, according to officials.
Quinn said in Monday’s statement that the allegations are highly troubling.
“The facts and circumstances relating to the indictments are extremely disturbing and egregious. I want to thank the prosecutors for their efforts in investigating,” Quinn said. “We look forward to prosecuting these matters in superior court.”
A Fall River police report filed in court laid out details of the case.
The report said a detective was informed around 8:40 a.m. on Oct. 21 that David Almond, one of triplets with intellectual disabilities, had died at Charlton Memorial Hospital. He lived in an apartment on Green Street with his two brothers and another boy who is Coleman’s biological son, as well as John Almond’s mother, the report said.
One of David Almond’s brothers and Coleman’s son were also taken to the hospital for evaluation, and David’s brother was deemed “too malnourished to leave behind,” the report said. A doctor told police David’s brother appeared to be emaciated.....
That's when I was full up.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Phone's ringing:
"The phone scams keep on coming — here are tips on how to avoid them" by Sean P. Murphy Globe Staff, March 28, 2021
A Globe colleague recently got two unsettling calls on his mobile phone from the same “888″ number.
He received the first call a couple of weeks ago from someone who said he was from Eversource (spoiler alert: he wasn’t) and that the electricity to his house would be turned off in “40 to 45 minutes” because his account was overdue.
“Are you really from Eversource?” my colleague asked, more a statement than a question.
The caller quickly hung up.
Then, last week, he got an almost identical call from “Eversource,” including the same threat to disconnect the electricity in “40 to 45 minutes.”
“I know this is a scam,” my colleague said, and hung up.
Imposter scams — in which perpetrators try to swindle consumers by saying they are calling from a utility, government agency, or other entity — are the most common type of scams reported to the Federal Trade Commission. Last year, the FTC logged almost half a million complaints, totaling $1.2 billion in losses to consumers.
Last year’s consumer loss in imposter scams was almost twice as much as the previous year’s, according to the FTC.
The scam artists who pose as a representative of a utility typically demand quick payment of hundreds of dollars to prevent the shutoff of electricity, gas, or water, and convince victims to pay with a prepaid debit card or by giving the scammer bank account information over the phone.
“Utilities deal with this all the time,” said Reid Lamberty, an Eversource spokesman. “Our customers are inundated with it.”
That's when I hung up.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
On the other end of the line:
"New chairman of Mass. Competitive Partnership aims to use its power to reshape local economy; Jeff Leiden of Vertex wants to roll out initiatives on job training, economic equity" by Jon Chesto Globe Staff, March 28, 2021
Jeff Leiden knows this state still has a long way to go to recapture the jobs that have been lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the new chairman of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, Leiden is in an unusual position to help restore the local economy to glory. He has an ambitious agenda for the partnership, a coalition of 16 top executives at some of the most prominent local employers, as he looks ahead to his two-year term, which began in January.
Leiden, whose day job is executive chairman at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he was CEO until last year, discussed with the Globe the four initiatives that his high-powered group will undertake, dubbed “focus areas.” Together, they don’t represent a big pivot for the group, but Leiden wants to put a bigger emphasis on equity and education as the partnership puts its considerable clout to work to jumpstart the economy. (Jay Ash, Governor Charlie Baker’s former economic development secretary, oversees the partnership’s day-to-day operations as its chief executive.)
The group’s mission has never been more challenging. Launched in 2010, soon after the Great Recession, the partnership has worked behind the scenes on a variety of issues tied to making Massachusetts more competitive, all while the local economy boomed on its own accord. Now, the state could use some serious help. Yes, the state’s unemployment rate fell to 7.1 percent in February, and Massachusetts has added tens of thousands of jobs in the last two months, but employment levels in the state are still down nearly 9 percent from a year ago, with about 325,000 fewer jobs.
“If we get it right, we’ll come out of this stronger than we’ve ever been,” Leiden said. “If we get it wrong . . . I think there’s risk [for the state]. That’s an exciting thing for me to be a part of.”
Now I'm feeling ill.
Here’s a closer look at the four big items on Leiden’s agenda, and the partnership members who will lead the efforts:
Reinvigorating the economy and state budget post-COVID 19 (Kraft Group chairman Robert Kraft and Liberty Mutual CEO David Long)
Preparing the workforce for the jobs of the future (Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan)
Growing the state’s innovation economy (MassMutual CEO Roger Crandall and Mass General Brigham CEO Anne Klibanski)
Social justice and providing opportunities for all (State Street CEO Ron O’Hanley, Rapid7′s Corey Thomas)
They all look like agents of the Great Re$et, do they not?
Of course, I'm sure you would love to work for them:
"The workplace has been turned upside down over the past year, but there remains at least one constant as the pandemic drags on: People still want employers who treat them well. They want to feel safe, supported, encouraged, challenged, and valued — and not just for their contributions to the bottom line — no matter if they’re working on the front lines or holed up at home. For those lucky enough to have kept or found jobs as companies slashed their workforces, and those lucky enough to like where they work, now is the time to sing employers’ praises. Nominations for The Boston Globe’s annual Top Places to Work survey are open for any organization (public, private, nonprofit, government) with 50 or more employees in Massachusetts....."
Would have told me if there a contract reached, right?
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Speaking of getting stuck:
The rerouted Suez mariners face an old threat, the ‘Graveyard of Ships’ if the New York Times' navigation is correct, so here's Hoping:
The good guys ‘pulled it off,’ and the pilots are now under scrutiny after the grounding of the ship led to billions of dollars in losses globally, but at least the bad guys were not allowed to suffocate the world economy and force everything through Mexico or Myanmar, who are now under sanction so no welcome mat for you!
