Mass. leaders propose changes to worker pensions By Glen Johnson .. AP Political Writer / January 18, 2011
BOSTON—The leaders of the Massachusetts political establishment proposed a second round of changes to the public employee retirement system on Tuesday, saying they are necessary for equity with private-sector workers and also to ensure the long-term solvency of the pension system.
Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo said they planned to act this year on a bill that will increase the retirement age for newly hired state workers; discourage early retirements by lessening the benefit received; and also block "double-dipping" by prohibiting current and future elected officials from receiving a pension for a prior government job while serving as an elected official. .. continued .. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/01/18/patrick_unveiling_next_phase_of_pension_changes/
Charges against 2 dropped in Uzi death case January 18, 2011
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—A Massachusetts prosecutor has dropped involuntary manslaughter charges against two men in connection with the death of an 8-year-old boy who shot himself with an Uzi, after a third defendant was acquitted last week.
Prosecutor William Bennett says in documents filed Tuesday in Hampden Superior Court he doesn't believe prosecuting Domenico Spano of New Milford, Conn., and Carl Giuffre of West Hartford, Conn., is "in the interests of justice."
Christopher Bizilj (buh-SEEL') of Ashford, Conn., died in October 2008 after an Uzi submachine gun he was firing kicked back and shot him in the head at a gun fair in Westfield. Authorities said Spano and Giuffre brought machine guns to the event.
Sargent Shriver, first director of Peace Corps, dies at 95 By ROBERT D. McFADDEN The New York Times
R. Sargent Shriver, the Kennedy in-law who became the founding director of the Peace Corps, the architect of President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, a U.S. ambassador to France and the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1972, died Tuesday in Bethesda, Md. He was 95.