New England News

  Law enforcement is slowly embracing social media as a crime
fighting tool. The latest example was announced Monday in Northampton
Massachusetts, as we hear from WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul
Tuthill.

        The Northwestern District Attorney, David Sullivan announced the
launch of a text-a-tip program designed to help police solve crimes in
the 47 cities and towns in Hampshire and Franklin counties.

The five member Massachusetts Gaming Commission is now in place. The commissioners will draft regulations to establish a new casino gambling industry in Massachusetts and award the much coveted licenses for resort casinos.  One member of the new commission is from western Massachusetts. Bruce Stebbins is a Springfield resident, a former member of the city council, and a small business development specialist.    He spoke recently with WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill.

Prosecutors are set to make their sentencing recommendation for a Massachusetts man convicted of conspiring to help al-Qaida.  WAMC's Tristan O'Neill reports...

Tarek Mehanna of Sudbury was convicted in December of traveling to Yemen to seek training in a terrorist camp with the intention of going on to Iraq to fight U.S. soldiers.

His lawyers say he should not be sentenced to more than 6 ½ years in prison. They say he never ended up receiving terrorist training, never provided any funds or weapons to al-Qaida and never actually threatened U.S. security interests.

Massachusetts lawmakers are planning to hold a hearing on a ballot question that would legalize the medical use of marijuana.  WAMC's Tristan O'Neill reports...

The ballot question would allow patients with debilitating medical conditions such as cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis to get permission from their doctors to use marijuana.

The plan also calls for the state to register up to 35 nonprofit medical treatment centers around the state to distribute the marijuana.

Attorney General Martha Coakley has certified the initiative to appear on the November ballot.

The five-member panel that will oversee casino gambling in Massachusetts is set to be sworn in and hold its first official meeting.   WAMC's Tristan O'Neill reports...

The agenda for Tuesday's meeting of the state Gaming Commission in Boston includes a number of administrative matters, including the election of a secretary and treasurer, the hiring of staff and the choosing of a law firm and outside gaming consultant.

The commissioners are also expected to adopt a mission statement and discuss several other matters, including ethics rules.

The state's new casino commission is planning its first public meeting as it gears up to tackle the task over overseeing the massive new gambling industry envisioned by the 2011 casino law.  WAMC's Tristan O'Neill reports...

The five-member Massachusetts Gaming Commission will hold the meeting tomorrow on the third floor of the campus center at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.

The commission's chairman is Stephen Crosby, who worked most recently as dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass-Boston.

Governor Deval Patrick is planning to welcome the president of Brazil to the Massachusetts Statehouse.  WAMC's Tristan O'Neill reports...

President Dilma Rousseff is scheduled to arrive at the Statehouse on Tuesday.

Patrick said members of the public who want to greet Rousseff are encouraged to arrive at the Statehouse steps at about 11 a.m.

Patrick said the visit is a result of his nine-day trade mission to South America in December that included tours of Chile and Brazil.

Hosted by the Housatonic River Initiative, a non-profit dedicated towards clearing the Housatonic of PCB's for the past 20 years, panelists made the case for thorough cleanup along the rest of the river. General Electric and the EPA have already dredged the first two miles of the Housatonic from the GE site through Pittsfield. An EPA plan for the so-called "Rest of River," six miles of cleanup from Pittsfield to Woods Pond in Lenox, is still being developed.

The second largest public school system in Massachusetts is going to make condoms available to students as young as 12 beginning this fall. The school committee in Springfield, Thursday night, approved a condom availability policy that proponents say will become  part of a comprehensive effort to combat one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the state. WAMC's  Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.