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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 10/02/2007 : 1:48:42 PM
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From Fox 25
Arrest Made in Connection with Revere Cop Shooting
Last Edited: Tuesday, 02 Oct 2007, 11:43 AM EDT
Created: Tuesday, 02 Oct 2007, 10:42 AM EDT
Dan Talbot,30, was a five-year veteran of the Revere Police Department who was assigned to the gang unit.
One person has been arrested in connection with the shooting death this past weekend of a Revere police officer. That person will be arraigned today in Chelsea District Court according to Revere Police.
The person arrested is being charged with accessory before the fact but police say the charge could be changed. The arraignment taking place at 2:00 pm today.
Police would not release the name or age of the person arrested.
Daniel Talbot was shot once in the head early Saturday morning as he socialized with other off-duty officers in a parking lot behind Revere High School.
District Attorney Daniel Conley said there was some kind of confrontation and an unidentified shooter fired on the officers, who fired back.
Conley said an autopsy report shows the bullet that killed Talbot was not the same caliber as weapons the other officers carried.
The 30-year-old Talbot was a five-year veteran of the force who was assigned to the gang unit. Conley said it's not clear if the men who confronted the officers were gang members.
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2007 : 08:36:13 AM
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Offshore LNG port construction under way
Workers disconnect the hoist connections on one of the liquefied natural gas depot’s two submerged turret-loading buoys. When not in use, they are tethered to the sea floor.
By RICK COLLINS
The Patriot Ledger
HULL - It takes a pair of binoculars and a clear day to get a good view of the groundbreaking work taking place in waters more than 10 miles to the northeast of Hull.
A pair of barges mark the site where the first offshore liquefied natural gas depot on the East Coast is being built. The so-called ‘‘Northeast Gateway’’ project could represent a big step toward eliminating the threat of a crippling natural gas shortage, without creating additional homeland security risks in urban areas.
‘‘We’ll be supplying about 400 million cubic feet (of natural gas) per day,’’ said Rob Bryngelson, chief executive officer of Excelerate Energy, the Texas company building the depot. ‘‘It’s about 18 to 20 percent of New England’s needs.’’
Bryngleson said that amount of natural gas is about the same that is pumped through the LNG depot on the banks of the Mystic River in Everett.
The French company that owns that terminal, Suez LNG, is also pursuing plans to build its own offshore port, called the Neptune project, about six miles to the northwest of the Northeast Gateway site. Suez expects its port to be operational in 2009.
New England has always been at the end of the natural gas delivery pipeline that runs up the East Coast from the Gulf Coast production plants.
With the demand for natural gas growing, experts had predicted that New England faced a real threat of natural gas shortages over the next few years. One step regional gas distributors have taken is the $1.2 billion, 330-mile Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline project, which connects Greater Boston with Eastern Canadian natural gas terminals.
Meanwhile, several proposals to build additional LNG terminals in the Northeast have drawn howls of protest, largely over the safety of building what are feared to be potential terrorist targets near densely populated areas. A proposal to build a storage depot on Outer Brewster Island met strong opposition from Hull residents as well as environmentalists opposed to placing an industrial plant on a national park.
However, the Excelerate and Suez offshore projects will be located miles out to sea. There will be no storage tanks, just a large buoy system with a flexible hose that connects to an underwater pipeline buried in the sea floor.
Specialized container ships will attach to the buoy system, convert the LNG back into gas and pump it into the transmission line.
Both the Northeast Gateway and Suez projects will tap into the HubLine, a 25-mile long underwater transmission line that runs from Weymouth to Beverly.
John Sheridan, a spokesman for Spectra Energy, of Texas, the company that operates the region’s major natural gas transmission arteries, said his company has already finished building the underwater pipeline that will connect Excelerate’s buoy system with the main HubLine.
Although building offshore is considered a safer alternative to building a permanent LNG terminal in an urban neighborhood - such as the Weaver’s Cove Energy proposal in Fall River - the offshore ports will have an effect on the environment and commercial fishing fleets.
The Northeast Gateway port, for example, is near Stellwagen Bank, one of the region’s most fruitful fishing grounds.
Both projects are required to make good on mitigation packages worth $23.5 million each.
Most of that money, about $12.5 million combined, will be used to help the region’s fishing community, which will be prohibited from fishing within a nautical mile of the depots. Another $3.4 million will be used to help affected lobstermen.
Bill Adler, president of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, said the group is still trying to figure out how it’s going to use the money to help lobstermen who have lost revenue or equipment during the project.
Another $8 million will go toward a buoy detection system for whales that frequent the waters around the ports.
Mason Weinrich, the executive director of the Whale Center of New England, says the increase in steel-hulled container ships will place even more whales at risk for injury or death.
‘‘The areas they have placed these ports are important feeding habitats for humpback, fin and right whales,’’ he said. ‘‘No matter how slow they’re going, there’s no way a 1,000-foot boat can turn away from a whale.’’
Local officials don’t expect the ports will have any direct impact on the South Shore.
‘‘I think it’s much better than some of the alternatives we were looking at, particularly the facility proposed for (Outer Brewster Island),’’ said Sen. Michael Morrissey, a Quincy Democrat.
Rick Collins may be reached at rcollins@ledger.com .
Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Tuesday, October 02, 2007 |
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ItalianDevil021
Member
41 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2007 : 4:05:55 PM
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| May God Bless and protect the officers out there on duty or off duty... |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2007 : 10:18:13 AM
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O.K., This is pretty close to unbelievable. I need to digest this for a while before I post about it any more.
EVERETT
Mayor assigns free cash surplus
Orders $4 million go toward tax bite
By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff | October 7, 2007
Taxes will likely be going up again in Everett. But an unexpected pool of money may help blunt some of the pain for taxpayers.
That's the word from Mayor John Hanlon, who took many officials by surprise Thursday when he announced that Everett has $11.6 million in excess revenues, called free cash, and that he will request $4 million of that be applied toward keeping the tax increase minimal.
"I promised during the budget cycle that all the information wasn't known and that we were in better shape than was being reported," Hanlon said in a news release. "Our mission has been distorted and maligned, but today we are vindicated."
Hanlon said he will also ask that $2 million be put toward the city's underfunded retirement system, which state officials have warned is short by millions of dollars. In addition, he is suggesting that $500,000 be applied toward the city's stabilization fund, an account lenders scrutinize when loaning the city money.
The mayor intends to ask the Board of Aldermen to approve these transfers when they meet on Wednesday, said his budget director, Janice Vetrano.
Hanlon's announcement came less than two days after his administration advised aldermen at their meeting Tuesday night that the city expected between $2 million and $3 million in free cash. State officials certified the accuracy on Wednesday of the $11.6 million figure, Everett's largest amount of free cash in 25 years, according to state records. The figure far outpaces the second-largest amount of $5.3 million in fiscal year 2006.
The news comes as tensions between the mayor and the City Council had been running at an all-time high.
After months of finger-pointing over the budget between the two sides, lawmakers finalized a spending plan this past week - three months into the fiscal year. And for the first time in recent memory, all sides now agree on one point: The new $124.6 million budget, approved by the Common Council on Monday and the Board of Aldermen in a special meeting on Tuesday, is a balanced budget that complies with state law.
The legality of the mayor's earlier budget proposal, which his own auditor had warned was not balanced, had been at issue.
But just days after losing the September primary, Hanlon submitted an adjusted budget proposal, cutting $1,164,788 from his earlier version. He also reduced by $250,000 the amount the city will hold in its overlay account, the fund it uses for tax abatements.
Then came Thursday's news of the $11.6 million in free cash.
Board of Aldermen president Joseph McGonagle, an outspoken Hanlon critic and now a candidate for mayor, said in a phone interview Thursday morning that he had not been notified by the mayor's office of the higher-than-expected figure.
"It's great news for the taxpayers," said McGonagle, who added that he would be in favor of applying some of it to lowering taxes.
McGonagle's competition for the corner office, Alderman at Large Carlo DeMaria, said he, too, had not been told by the mayor's office of the $11.6 million. DeMaria said Hanlon, who lost his bid for a second term in office in September's primary, has thrown his support to him.
"I think it's a great move for [Hanlon] to give the taxpayers some relief and put some of that money in stabilization to help us on our bond rating and borrowing costs," DeMaria said. "Finally in Everett we have good news."
Why was the final free cash figure so much higher than Hanlon's administration had expected?
"Most of it was revenue we did not anticipate," said Vetrano, the budget director. "This year we lit a flame under some corporate users of water who owed us bills for a while and a few of them came in."
Vetrano also said that $475,000 was raised from tickets handed out by the city's new overnight parking enforcers, a program that had drawn sharp criticism earlier this year from some councilors, who said Everett could not afford so many new hires. Last year, Hanlon also created 11 new code enforcement positions. During Hanlon's two years in office, Everett's budget has jumped $20 million, from $104.6 million when he started in January 2006, to the newly approved budget of $124.6 million.
Last week's budget truce followed a public plea from George Keverian, the head of the city's Assessors Office, who urged councilors to approve the reduced budget so the city could finally set its tax rate, a complex process that requires a public hearing, a series of votes by the City Council, and certification by the state before tax bills can go out.
Adding urgency to the issue, Keverian, 76, said his key aide is slated for surgery Oct. 29, leaving him with a lot to do and little time to complete the tasks. "You can see why someone like me starts to panic, because budgets are usually done by July," he said.
Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.
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Fedup
Member
86 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2007 : 10:46:10 AM
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| Unfortunately, there isn't any mention of Larry DeCoste in the above article. Everett is blessed to have him in the Auditor's office. |
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n/a
deleted
136 Posts |
 Posted - 10/07/2007 : 7:23:23 PM
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| I take this article as good news. My question is how come the administration did not know they had 11 Million in free cash? The Mayor could have given some indication. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2007 : 8:24:37 PM
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After taking a while to digest today's news, I find myself very torn. On one hand, I'm ecstatic that there is $11.6 million in available free cash this year. I'm also pleased with the way that the mayor is proposing to spend some of it. Today's taxpayers benefit by having $4 million of it applied to the tax levy and $.5 million added to the stabilization fund; tomorrow's taxpayers benefit by reducing the unfunded pension liability by $2 million. $100,000 of free cash was already appropriated for the after school program; this still leaves $5 million for the incoming administration to spend as they see fit. This is probably a little more than they would normally need in free cash but given that it is will be a transition year between administrations, it is certainly not inappropriate. I have been a harsh critic of the mayor but this time, I think he got it just right. I hope that the usual politics will be put aside Wednesday night and that this plan will be adopted as is.
On the other hand, I'm very confused. In the space of a day or two, we went from probably having from $2 to $3 million in free cash to having $11.6 million! How could someone not have a better handle on this? I've been a supporter of Mr. DeCoste but now I'm not so sure. I'm sure that all of the conspiracy theorists will have a field day with this one. Hard to believe that all of this came from late water bills, increases in code enforcement staffing and civilian parking enforcement; but, unless we get more detail than what today's article contained, we'll never know.
One thing that I don't agree with the mayor on is that this news vindicates his administration. You don't set a budget based upon the amount of free cash that might be available; the budget needs to stand by itself. Lets face it, there was no way that the mayor would have appeared before the city council last week to cut his budget with his tail between his legs if anyone at city hall had a clue that, by the end of the week, this would happen. My opinion is that, if anything, this validates the result of the primary even more. |
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Court4Fred
Advanced Member
1201 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2007 : 9:09:22 PM
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Tetris,
This 11 million in free cash is not the fault of Larry Decoste, who is only the auditor. Think of him as the "police" when it comes to spending. He is the "check and balance" with regard to the city's balance sheet. With eleven million bucks this year in free cash, I think one has to question the treasurer, who would provide the revenue projections. The taxpayers were overtaxed last year, and they didn't need to be. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2007 : 9:28:41 PM
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Court,
I pretty much agree with you with one exception. From the remarks that Mr Keverian made the other night, Mr. DeCoste was the one meeting with the DOR the other day to get that free cash certified. I believed that he would be the one resonsible for preparing whatever paperwork the DOR requires to do that and therefore, the source of the the free cash estimate. I would actually be happy if I am wrong!
Update - O.K., I did a little research on the DOR website and it appears that the auditor is reponsible for submitting a copy of city's June 30th balance sheet and information about appropriations made from free cash during the year and that's about it. It looks like the state does the rest of the work. What a concept! Therefore, there probably isn't anyone in the city who has ever attempted to accurately estimate free cash. Doesn't seem that it would be very difficult for anyone with a municipal finance background. Therefore, the $2 to $3 million dollar amount seems to be nothing more than a wild guess. |
Edited by - tetris on 10/07/2007 10:16:36 PM |
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Court4Fred
Advanced Member
1201 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 07:13:33 AM
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Tetris,
I can see your point, but you also have to acknowledge that Mr. DeCoste relies on the revenue projections from the Treasurer, as well as an independent counsel on revenue, bonds and other financial matters. Even Ms. Vetrano pointed out that it was revenue that the city didn't anticipate, which begs the question, "why?"
You do raise a good point about how the system works, though, and it's yet one more issue that the mayoral candidates should address. With 11 million is free cash, it is patently obvious that the taxpayers were overtaxed and that should not be happening. No one should be taxed to provide a free tax pool for politicians to swim in. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 07:41:23 AM
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Court,
I think we're on the same page now. As I said in my first post, it would be hard to believe the majority of the $11.6 million came from late water bills, increases in code enforcement staffing and civilian parking enforcement. The "good" news (if you can call it that) about being overtaxed in FY2007 is that we are probably being overtaxed in FY2008 as well and could have similiar results next year (if the politician don't go swimming) and there should be plenty of room to cut the budget going forward. Of course, the better news would have been if it never happened in the first place. |
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Court4Fred
Advanced Member
1201 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 09:11:25 AM
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| The only caveat, Tetris, is that the information regarding revenue comes from Ms. Vetrano, who is not exactly gifted when it comes to municpal finance, or in the truth, for that matter. To be fair, I'm a little skeptical of her analysis and I think the candidates need to independently review the financial data in order to understand how this $11 M in free cash occurred, because it didn't happen due to any cost cutting measure of the current administration. I think it's a disgrace to have that much free cash when people are scraping to pay these tax bills. |
Edited by - Court4Fred on 10/08/2007 09:15:18 AM |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 09:22:17 AM
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Court,
Totally agree. Again, as I said in my first post on the subject, without more detail than the article contained, we'll never really know. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 9:11:40 PM
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| I've been away for the long weekend, can't believe all I missed in just a few short days. |
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Court4Fred
Advanced Member
1201 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2007 : 06:29:20 AM
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| Tetris, my friend, let's see which candidate asks for that information first. |
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today's globe
