Thursday, December 13, 2012
The use of a Taser on a Newton woman this week has led to conversation about the weapon.
A police officer's use of his department-issued Taser on a mall shopper this week has sparked conversation about use of the weapon. Nashua, NH police said Wednesday that their use of a Taser in arresting a Newton woman at the Pheasant Lane Mall was warranted under the "force continuum," which allows for incremental use of force during an arrest. Police say the woman was trespassing in an Apple Store and when she was asked to leave, she refused and resisted police. Video shows the woman being subdued with the Taser outside of the store. The Taser "pro/con" debate often surfaces when footage of Taser incidents becomes widely available, or if someone is seriously injured from them. Advocates of officers carrying Tasers argue, among other …
Saturday, December 8, 2012
A Wakefield man and tutor who faces numerous child sex charges was a Level 1 sex offender.
On Thursday afternoon, news spread quickly through the region about the indictment of a Wakefield couple for numerous charges stemming from an illegal day care operation where graphic child sexual abuse occurred. The Middlesex County District Attorney's office alleges that at least 13 children were abused while under the care of John Burbine, 49, at the Waterfall Education Center, which offered tutoring and day care. Burbine was a level 1 sex offender, which means he had been convicted of a sex-related crime but was deemed least likely to re-offend. Sex offenders are classified according to the degree of dangerousness they pose to the public and their likelihood to re-offend. A Level 1 offender has been classified as a “low risk.” A Level …
Saturday, November 24, 2012
A photo has created a firestorm and led to a woman being fired from her job on Cape Cod.
Lindsey Stone of Plymouth last month posted a photo on Facebook of herself making an obscene gesture at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Both Stone and Jamie Schuh, the woman who took the photo, have apologized about the incident. Stone, and employee of Life Inc., a living facility for adults with disablilities in Hyannis, has been fired from her position. On its Facebook Page, Life Inc. posted the following: On Nov. 19 at approximately 6 p.m., we became aware that one of our employees had posted an offensive, inappropriate photograph on her personal Facebook page. The photo was taken at a national historic site in October by a fellow employee during a trip to Washington, D.C. attended by 40 residents and …
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The controversy stemmed from a Shrewsbury woman being denied as a new patient at a primary care physician's office in Worcester.
Debate ensued late this summer after a Shrewsbury resident was turned away from a primary care doctor's office because she was obese. The woman told WCVB that Dr. Helen Carter told her she couldn't treat her as a patient because she weighed more than 200 pounds. The doctor told WBUR last month that she decided to institute her policy primarily because a colleague had been seriously injured pulling out the exam table foot rest for a 280-pound patient. In general, the policy applies to anyone who is obese and weighs above 200 pounds, or has a BMI over 30. It is geared toward "avoiding further injuries to providers and the subsequent loss of productivity," she told the radio station. The doctor's policy is not illegal. The American Medical …
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Some Rhode Island students were made to leave a homecoming dance early after protesting their school's "no-grinding" policy.
A Rhode Island high school is under scrutiny after administrators cut short a homecoming dance this weekend. Middletown High School dismissed students from the dance early because of "unsafe behavior by students who did not agree with the no-grinding rule as outlined in the Middletown High School handbook," the district announced in a statement Sunday. The school handbook, reported Middletown Patch, includes a "no-grinding policy," which notes that "sexually explicit dancing will not be tolerated." According to Middletown Patch, the DJ told some students they were not allowed to make song requests and that he only played music they could not dance to. Eventually, the students sat on the floor in protest and began to chant expletives. The …
Friday, October 12, 2012
As the Nov. 6 election nears, political discussion is getting heated. How much do you share of your political opinions with your Facebook friends?
Maybe you're a die-hard Democrat, and you think Joe Biden wiped the floor with Paul Ryan in the vice presidential debate Thursday. Or maybe you're a staunch Republican, you believe Paul Ryan was on top of his game. Do you share these opinions with your Facebook friends? Maybe you shouldn't, suggests a recent article on Boston.com. People of all political leanings told the Globe they're learning too much about their friends' and relatives' attitudes. The article is informed by data from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. The study found that 18 percent of Facebook users have blocked, unfriended, or hidden a friend because of political differences or a distaste for the sheer volume of the friends’ political posts. …
Friday, October 5, 2012
The Safe Driving Law took effect more than two years ago. Has it helped?
It has been more than two years since state legislators passed the Safe Driving Law in an attempt to cut down on the dangers caused by distracted driving. One of the most talked-about sections of the bill, which took effect Sept. 30, 2010, was the monetary penalties attached to text messaging while driving. The first offense comes with a $100 fine; the second, $250, and the third or subsequent offenses, $500. Stories of texting and driving continue to make headlines, however. Just this week, WHDH.com reported that a Boston family is in a dispute over a school bus driver they say texts while driving students. Do you think the Safe Driving Law has helped cut down on the number of distracted drivers? Do you text and drive? What penalties, if …
Friday, September 28, 2012
The answer to this question around the country will have as much influence as any over who wins the U.S. presidency in November.
Exactly four years ago this month, the bottom dropped out of the U.S. economy. Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008. The next day, the Federal Reserve announced a bailout of AIG. Bad news continued to pile up almost daily, with the stock market collapsing and millions of jobs vanishing. Massachusetts's unemployment rate was 5.8 percent four years ago, spiked to 8.7 percent by the following October and is at 6.3 percent in the latest figures. That is below the national 8.1 percent unemployment rate. On this four-year anniversary, incumbent Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney are nearing the home stretch of the Presidential election. No single factor will define such a complex process as selection of a president, …
Friday, September 21, 2012
Incumbent Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren squared off in their first debate Thursday night.
Republican Senator Scott Brown faced off against Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren Thursday night in a debate televised by WBZ-TV. The Thursday debate was the first of four planned tilts between the candidates, and it saw disagreement between the two on just about every topic. Polls have seesawed over the last week, with Brown and Warren swapping small leads, as they have throughout the campaign. The debates may provide one or the other an opportunity to change voter minds and swing the election his or her way. Central to the debate Thursday was the focus on taxes, jobs and the economy. "He has said he will defend the top 2 percent and the top 3 percent...and will hold the other 98% of families hostage," Warren said, referencing Brown…
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Mother Jones released a video of Mitt Romney telling a private audience that 47 percent of Americans are dependent on the government and will never vote for him. Was this a ruinous gaffe, or has Romney told a hard political truth?
A secret video obtained by Mother Jones magazine has rocked the political world. In that video, Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said 47 percent of Americans believe they are victims, are dependent on the government and will never vote for him. He went further, saying he wasn't worried about them. The magazine released a portion of the video Monday. In a late night press conference Monday, Romney said the comments were not "elegantly stated," but were part of a larger conversation about the role of personal responsibility. Romney went on to say the comments were a reflection on "the political process of winning an election, and, of course, I want to help all Americans—all Americans—have a bright and prosperous future." Mother …
Nikitha Roy
2:05 am on Saturday, December 15, 2012
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