December 2, 2012
Saturday’s local dailies duly reported on Thursday’s MBTA trolley-car crash, the latest in a series of T-bonehead incidents over the past several years.
The Boston Herald, as usual, has the basics:
Driver in T trolley crash cited for speeding in 2009
The operator of a Green Line trolley that rear-ended another train parked at a downtown station Thursday had been cited by the MBTA for a speeding violation in 2009, according to the T.
The citation, for running a C branch trolley 13 mph over the speed limit along Beacon Street in Brookline, was the only prior issue concerning train operation in the man’s six-year career at the T, said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.
“He has traveled through hundreds of speed checks since then, with no violations,” he said.
Pesaturo said the operator was disciplined and retrained after the citation.
The T hasn’t identified the 46-year-old operator, who was to receive a safety recognition pin yesterday for three years of accident-free driving but skipped the ceremony because he is on unpaid leave, MBTA acting General Manager Jonathan Davis said.
Crosstown rival Boston Globe added this ironic detail:
The accident occurred a day before that operator was scheduled to receive a “safety pin” along with other Green Line drivers, including the one whose trolley he hit, for three straight years of driving without an accident or moving violation. Instead, he remained on paid leave and did not collect his pin, officials said.
But, as the Globe noted elsewhere in Saturday’s edition, this operator did:
Safety First?
That’s just how the T rolls, yeah?
1 Comment | 
Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, MBTA, Safe-T First, T-boneheaded | 
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
November 30, 2012
Yesterday the hardworking staff at kissin’ cousin Campaign Outsider noted that the Boston Globe was having a difficult time distinguishing between the late Tip O’Neill and Ken Howard, who played Tip in a local stage production.
From yesterday’s boston.com homepage:
Then, lo and behold, the Track Gals (and Megan!) include this in their Boston Herald column today:
Boston.com, the website of our favorite Boring Broadsheet, posting a picture of actor Ken Howard, in costume as Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, and identified it as the late House speaker in a story about a new federal building named for Tip. (It was later swapped for the real ONeill)
So not only can’t we get quoted in the feisty local tabloid (they know what we’re talking about), we can’t get credited either.
That’s just wrong.
Meanwhile, the Globe took the high road and didn’t mention our post at all.
UPDATE: Unbeknownst to us, Megan Johnson had left the Track before this item ran.
6 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Campaign Outsider, Inside Track, Ken Howard, Tip O'Neill, Track Gals (and Megan!) | Permalink
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November 28, 2012
Split decision in the local dailies today over the BBC series The Hour, which returns for its second season on BBC America tonight.
First up, the Boston Globe’s Matthew Gilbert, whose opinions the hardwatching staff generally agrees with (except when he called John Simm’s portrayal of Sam Tyler in the original Life on Mars “weaselly”).
His review in today’s edition:
‘The Hour’: Worth the time
I hear from a lot of TV viewers who really want to like “The Newsroom,” Aaron Sorkin’s HBO drama about the media, integrity, and the Gordian knot of love. But while they’re drawn to a drama about TV journalism, they complain that the “Newsroom” characters are preternaturally intelligent, overly self-important, and emotionally adolescent. The usual Sorkin rumpus. I enjoy the show, for Sorkin’s passionate treatment of timely issues, and for Jeff Daniels’s flamboyant performance, but I can’t argue with those who reject the kit because of the kaboodle.
Cut to: BBC America’s “The Hour,” the British series that returns for a second season of six episodes on Wednesday night at 9. This is also a drama about the news business, the challenges of integrity, and love’s near misses and thunderclaps, but it’s not marred by any of Sorkin’s excesses. Set at a weekly BBC newsmagazine in the 1950s called “The Hour,” it’s a subtle intertwining of journalists’ professional struggles, their personal lives, and the thorny social issues that envelope them, and I can’t recommend it enough. “The Hour” is not “Breaking Bad” good, or “Mad Men” good, but it’s close.
Quickly we go crosstown to Herald TV critic Mark Perigard’s review:
BBC America’s period drama drags
Zero ‘Hour’
The Brits are learning the wrong things from American TV.
Take BBC America’s “The Hour,” which returns tonight for a second season. The 1950s-set drama about the making of a “60 Minutes”-style news show sucks up all the excesses of AMC’s “Mad Men” and none of its storytelling virtues.
Tiebreaker, please.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: BBC America, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, John Simms, Life on Mars, Mark Perigard, Matthew Gilbert, Sam Tyler, The Hour | Permalink
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November 27, 2012
His ‘n’ His editorial cartoons at the local dailies today.
In the Boston Globe, the great Tom Toles:
In the Herald, local stalwart Jerry Holbert:
Except here’s what ran in the dead-tree edition of the feisty local tabloid:
The website’s been scrubbed. Long live dead trees.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Jerry Holbert, Morsi Code, Morsy Code, Tom Toles | Permalink
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November 26, 2012
Two – wait for it – very different takes on Taxachusetts in today’s local dailies.
Start with this glass-half-empty front-page piece in the Boston Globe:
Mass. tax revenues decline; budget trims loom
Looks for ways to curb spending; automatic cut in taxes ruled out
Facing weaker than expected state tax revenues, Governor Deval Patrick’s administration has curbed state hiring, halted an automatic income tax reduction, and begun identifying cuts in spending that may be necessary to balance the budget.
Recent tax collections have been unexpectedly disappointing, failing to measure up to last year’s levels. In October, revenues were $162 million short of budgetary estimates and $48 million below the level reached in October 2011.
State revenues are running $256 million behind budget and $33 million behind last year’s actual collection, officials said.
Cut to Ho-Ho-Holly Robichaud’s column in today’s Boston Herald:
Dems think state loses if you save $$
The never-ending saga of Taxachusetts is coming to our wallets soon.
Whether or not there is a need for more revenue, the fundamental problem is that Democrats have a delusional view about our money. They believe what we don’t pay in taxes is an expenditure on behalf of the state.
Hence, it is costing Bacon Hill tax dollars because we keep more of our savings and paychecks.
A bit tortured there, but emblematic of the glass-stolen-by-the-state school of politics.
See you when there’s a tiebreaker.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Deval Patrick, Holly Robichaud, Taxachusetts | Permalink
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November 25, 2012
Saturday’s Boston Globe featured a Page One piece by Billy Baker that some would say shouldn’t have been Page One, and others would say shouldn’t have been a piece (except maybe in the Boston Herald).
Regardless . . .
Millis man savors his time as an Internet (punching) bag
Blake Boston takes a seat on a bench outside the Red Line station in Kendall Square, lights up a Newport, and it happens. Immediately. A young MIT student sees him, does a double take, and then approaches, cautiously.
“Are you . . . ” the student says, then pauses and takes a big swallow. He’s about to call a stranger a bad name.
“Are you, um, Scumbag Steve?”
“Yeah, man,” Boston says, then shakes the student’s hand and poses for a photo.
Blake Boston is the Internet’s favorite scumbag. He hasn’t always been thrilled with this honor. But after nearly two years as the butt of one of the most persistent jokes in the history of the Internet, the 22-year-old Millis resident has come to embrace being Scumbag Steve. And now he is trying to capitalize on it.
The same way the Globe is capitalizing on him.
Read the whole piece, because this is the way the (media) world works now:
Sweat the small stuff. Hope the big stuff sorts itself out.
UPDATE: As Universal Hub’s Adam Gaffin points out below, the Phoenix scooped them both.
4 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Billy Baker, Blake Boston, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Scumbag Steve | Permalink
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November 24, 2012
Special election rules in Massachusetts are the Silly Putty of legislation, taking whatever shape best suits the Democratic majority at the time.
Back in 2004, they eliminated a governor’s power to appoint replacements for U.S. Senate vacancies, the better to keep then-Gov. Mitt Romney’s mitts off John Kerry’s seat should he win the presidency. When one of their own returned to the corner office, state lawmakers gave back the power to appoint a temporary replacement.
Now they apparently want to give Gov. Deval Patrick the power to appoint a permanent replacement to serve out an interrupted term, the Boston Herald’s Hillary Chabot reports:
Whispers build of change to special election rules
Power-hungry Bay State Democrats — eyeing another potential Senate opening if U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry joins the Obama Cabinet— are quietly discussing reinstating a 2004 law that would let Gov. Deval Patrick appoint a permanent replacement to help keep the seat under party control until at least 2014.
“I think that would be preferable. It would certainly save the taxpayers money if they don’t have to pay for another election,” said Phil Johnston, former chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
“I think people are campaigned out. I think the governor is very popular and most voters would be happy to support his choice until the next general election,” Johnston added.
Not if the voters are David Bernstein, the intrepid political maven at the Phoenix. Here’s what he tweeted earlier today:
If history is any guide, shame will be the least important factor going forward.
5 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Herald, David Bernstein, Deval Patrick, John Kerry, Massachusetts Democratic Party, Phil Johnston, Senate replacement, special election, The Phoenix | Permalink
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November 23, 2012
Our feisty local tabloid has been keeping close tabs on ‘Round Town Scotty Brown (R-Indian Given).
Here’s the tally just from today (call it his Turkey (Day) Trot), starting with a political piece:
Scott Brown intensifies support for Israel
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown drew a clear line in the sand yesterday in support of Israel, an indication of fierce congressional backing for America’s key Middle East ally no matter what the outcome of its tenuous Egypt-brokered cease-fire with the militant Hamas group.
“They have a right to defend themselves, and Hamas needs to stop,” said Brown, who serves on Senate committees on armed services and homeland security. “If we’re going to have any kind of lasting peace, then there needs to be a change of policy with a lot of the groups over there. They cannot think that Israel is going to be wiped off the face of the Earth. Iran needs to step back from that position and so does the rest of the region.”
When he made those comments Brown was at the Pine Street Inn (thus the apron), an appearance that got him into a human interest story, this one headlined “Pine Street misses ailing mayor.”
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and his wife, Gail Huff, said they plan to make volunteering at Pine Street a family tradition.
“We brought our time, we brought a check, and I encourage others to do that,” Brown said. “I’m very thankful for my wife and kids, and I’m thankful I can be here again this year.”
But wait! There’s more!
There’s video!
Just to whet your appetite, a screen grab:
Enjoy!
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: 'Round Town Scotty Brown, Boston Herald, Israel, Pine Street Inn, R-Indian Given, Scott Brown | Permalink
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November 23, 2012
For the past several days the hardtracking staff at Sneak Adtack has been chronicling Facebook’s new data-sucking policies, which essentially strip control of online information from the Faceherd.
The Boston Herald noted the change – in its usual minimalistic way – in Saturday’s The Ticker:
Facebook may end voting on privacy
Facebook is proposing to end its practice of letting users vote on changes to its privacy policies. But the social network said it will continue to let users comment on proposed updates.
Which of course means nothing, but why get technical about it.
Meanwhile, the Boston Globe has reported exactly nothing about what many believe is a major blow to online privacy rights.
Score one (more) for the feisty local tabloid.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Facebook, Faceherd, privacy, The Ticker | Permalink
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November 21, 2012
Yesterday’s Boston Globe featured the main course: A front-page piece on the hospital room where Boston Mayor Tom Menino’s been holed up for a month with a Whitman’s Sampler of symptoms from blood clots to spinal cracks.
Hospital room is now Mayor Menino’s office
Top aides help mayor retain links to his city
A black accordion file sits on a desk outside Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s empty office on the fifth floor of Boston City Hall. Most days, city employees stuff paper work into manila folders in the compartments: One sleeve is reserved for documents Menino needs to sign, another for memos the mayor needs to read.
Normally, the bundle goes home with Menino to Readville. But for the past 25 days, the plastic file has been driven the 3½ miles from City Hall to Francis Street, where doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital continue to treat Menino for a variety of ailments.
The impersonal shuttling of documents to the Brigham — and verbal orders the mayor shares from his hospital bed through an inner circle of aides — has become the main link between Menino and roughly 20,000 city employees he has closely managed for almost 20 years. It marks a stark change for Menino, who so prides himself on personal connections that he has forbidden voicemail at City Hall.
Another stark change: Today’s slim pickins in the Boston Herald, which feel decidedly warmed-over.
A-list visitors call on ailing Boston mayor
Gov. Deval Patrick and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley have been among the visitors to Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has been at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for a month and is expected to remain there through Thanksgiving.
Patrick and his wife, Diane, met with Menino for about 30 minutes at the hospital last weekend, while O’Malley, the Boston archbishop, visited on Friday, said Menino spokeswoman Dot Joyce.
“He’s able to engage and have conversations,” Joyce said. “They’re not long visits.”
The hardreading staff hopes that soon those visits won’t be necessary, and Mr. Mayah can get back to not checking his voicemail at City Hall.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston City Hall, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dot Joyce, Tom Menino | Permalink
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It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 