Category: Rachel Kolokoff
New U.S. Capitol Visitor Center Makes Trip Easier for Tourists
VISITORS SHORT
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
December 12, 2008
WASHINTON – For millions of annual visitors who have stood in line for hours waiting to tour the U.S. Capitol, convenience has finally arrived with the opening of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.
The 580,000-square-foot underground addition, which took seven years and $621 million of taxpayer money to construct, opened in early December.
The idea of a visitor center dates back to the 1960s but was thrust forward in 1998 when a gunman breached Capitol security, opening fire and killing two Capitol police officers.
In 2002, construction began with a cost estimated at close to $360 million.
Tom Fontana, spokesman for the center, said the facility, built almost entirely underground on the east side of the Capitol, improves security by establishing a buffer zone between the Capitol and its visitors.
But the center, which is protected by the U.S. Capitol Police, does much more than shield the Capitol building, according to Mr. Fontana. At roughly three-quarters the size of the Capitol building itself, the center can hold up to 4,000 people and includes additional congressional office space, two theaters, exhibits, gift shops, a cafeteria and 26 restrooms.
Until the new center opened, tourists were forced to wait outside in hot and cold weather to go through security and were allowed to enter only in controlled numbers.
“People are now waiting minutes outside where it would have been hours before,” Fontana said.
People waiting for tours now can enjoy the center’s displays about the history of the Capitol and Congress in the new 16,500-square-foot exhibition space. Designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the dimly lit exhibition hall, in which photography is barred, has an 11-foot-tall model of the Capitol’s rotunda and dome, interactive, touch-screen kiosks with panoramic virtual tours of the Capitol and more.
Displayed artifacts on loan from the National Archives include the trowel used by President Washington to lay the Capitol cornerstone in 1793 and the American flag that was flying over the House on Sept. 11, 2001.
Also on display are the original 19-foot-tall, white plaster Statue of Freedom, cast in bronze in 1861, and more than 20 other statues from the National Statuary Hall Collection.
While waiting to tour the Capitol, visitors not admiring priceless artifacts and statues might watch a 13-minute orientation film on the history of Congress in one of two theaters accessible from Emancipation Hall.
But with the center’s advance reservation system in place, most visitors will not find themselves waiting for long, Fontana said. Using the center’s Web site, visitthecapitol.gov, visitors can book a tour with the Capitol Guide Service days or weeks in advance and plan accordingly. Tours led by congressional office staff members are still available and visitors can contact their member of Congress directly or through the Web site.
It costs nothing to enter or to reserve tickets for the theaters and tours. A limited number of tickets are available daily for people who have not made reservations.
###
New U.S. Capitol Visitor Center Makes Trip Easier for Tourists
VISITORS
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
December 10, 2008
WASHINGTON -- After 18 years as a history teacher at Forest Grove Middle School in Worcester, Fred King is no stranger to the U. S. Capitol building.
As a chaperone on the annual class trip to Washington, he has accompanied his students as they have toured its halls about a dozen times, witnessing history firsthand in the legislative chambers and viewing the paintings and sculptures as grand as the national ideals they reflect.
But despite his best efforts, Mr. King said, there is one thing he has yet to discover beneath the cast-iron Capitol dome, something his students have always, inevitably, needed – a bathroom. In fact, throughout the building, there are only five public bathrooms.
But for Mr. King, his students, and millions of annual visitors who have stood in line for hours waiting to tour the Capitol, convenience has finally arrived with the opening of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. The 580,000-square-foot underground addition, which took seven years and $621 million of taxpayer money to construct, opened in early December. And it has 26 restrooms.
The idea of a visitor center dates back to the 1960s but was thrust forward in 1986 when a legislative committee began planning its construction and again in 1998 when a gunman breached Capitol security, opening fire and killing two Capitol police officers.
In 2002, after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City, construction began with a cost estimated at close to $360 million.
Tom Fontana, spokesman for the center, said the facility, built almost entirely underground on the east side of the Capitol, improves security by establishing a buffer zone between the Capitol and its visitors.
Truck services to the Capitol now also take place underground in a tunnel, the construction of which was partly responsible for the center’s delays and cost overrun. Previously all delivery trucks pulled up to the east front of the building.
“All that activity occurred right near the face of the building in the morning hours,” Mr. Fontana said, “and that’s not appropriate for any building, let alone the nation’s Capitol.”
But the center, which is protected by the U.S. Capitol Police, does much more than shield the Capitol building, according to Mr. Fontana. At roughly three-quarters the size of the Capitol building itself, the center can hold up to 4,000 people and includes additional congressional office space, two theaters, exhibits, gift shops, a cafeteria and the 26 restrooms.
More than 2,000 people per hour can be screened through the center’s entrance, a descending stairway on the Capitol’s east lawn, which some say mars a once unobstructed view of the Capitol building itself.
“People are now waiting minutes outside where it would have been hours before,” Fontana said.
U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, said that the more efficient entrance is a welcome way to keep people out of long lines and bad weather.
“People get heat stroke waiting to get into the Capitol in lines with hundreds and hundreds of people,” Mr. McGovern said. Until the new center opened, tourists would wait in line outside to go through security and were allowed to enter only in controlled numbers.
For people like Mr. King and David J. Twiss, a chorus director at Burncoat High School in Worcester who is taking his select chorus to Washington in January, the center offers not only shelter from the weather but also the chance for a hassle-free educational experience.
“Certainly when you’re trying to get on a bus with a time schedule, you’re going to appreciate 26 bathrooms,” Mr. Twiss said.
Mr. Twiss said he expects his students to enjoy the center’s displays about the history of the Capitol and Congress in the new 16,500-square-foot exhibition space. Designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the dimly lit exhibition hall, in which photography is barred, has an 11-foot-tall model of the Capitol’s rotunda and dome; models of Capitol Hill’s evolution from 1814 to present times; interactive, touch-screen kiosks with panoramic virtual tours of the Capitol and more.
Displayed artifacts on loan from the National Archives include the trowel used by President Washington to lay the Capitol cornerstone in 1793, the gavel used in the 1941 declaration of war against Germany and Italy and the American flag that was flying over the House on Sept. 11, 2001.
U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said the exhibitions are important because they offer people a chance to better understand America’s history.
“I think the obligation here is clear,” Mr. Neal said, “and that’s to remind and better acquaint the citizenry with the marvel of the documents that help produce our democracy.”
Also on display are the original 19-foot-tall, white plaster Statue of Freedom, cast in bronze in 1861, and more than 20 other statues chosen carefully from the National Statuary Hall Collection to “represent the diversity of the country equitably,” according to Mr. Fontana.
“In the entire national statuary hall collection there are 100 statues, but only eight are women,” Mr. Fontana said. “We have five of those in our Emancipation Hall.”
Mr. Fontana said each statue was placed meticulously throughout the vast sandstone and marble-walled showroom, which boasts a 36-foot ceiling, two massive skylights and floor space large enough to contain five football fields.
The statue of King Kamehameha, who has an elevated status in Hawaii, must out of respect rest in a place where no one walks over his head, Mr. Fontana said. Sacagawea must face the West in honor of her westward journey with Lewis and Clark.
While waiting to tour the Capitol, visitors not admiring priceless artifacts and statues might watch a 13-minute orientation film on the history of Congress in one of two theaters accessible from Emancipation Hall.
But with the center’s advance reservation system in place, most visitors will not find themselves waiting for long, Fontana said. Using the center’s Web site, visitthecapitol.gov, visitors can book a tour with the Capitol Guide Service days or weeks in advance and plan accordingly. Tours led by congressional office staff members are still available and visitors can contact their member of Congress directly or through the Web site.
It costs nothing to enter or to reserve tickets for the theaters and tours. A limited number of tickets are available daily for people who have not made reservations.
Mr. McGovern said he thinks visitors will not be disappointed by the center, which he called a magnificent addition to the Capitol campus.
“From some vantage points, when you look up through the glass ceiling, you see that incredible view of the Capitol dome,” he said, “It’s breathtaking.”
###
Researchers Developing Easier, Cheaper Ways to Catch Beetles
Beetles
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
Nov. 26, 2008
WASHINGTON – A costly battle is now being waged over the future of Maples and other hardwood trees in the Northeast. The enemy in that fight is a small, black and white-speckled beetle that stowed away inside wooden crates on a ship from China and emerged with the potential to become one of the most destructive insect species the United States has ever seen.
The Asian Longhorned Beetle was first discovered in New York in 1996, and since then has been found in Illinois, New Jersey and now in Worcester, the fourth infestation site in the U.S.
Spotted in the Kendrick Field section of Worcester in August, it has probably been in the city for at least seven or eight years, according to Michael T. Smith, a U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher who has studied the beetle in China, its native land. Since then department officials have begun looking for infested trees within a 62-mile area including the city and parts of Boylston, Holden, Shrewsbury and West Boylston.
When the beetle finds a potential host tree it chews a depression in the bark, lays an individual egg in that depression and then packs it down. When the larvae hatch, they bore into the tree and stay there, living off the wood and nutrients while they mature.
According to Mr. Smith, an infested tree can look normal for three to four years while the beetles are chewing its insides, working their way towards the outer bark. But eventually, if enough beetles have infested the tree, they girdle it, cut off its water flow and leave it to die. Chewing their way out of the tree, the grown beetles leave behind dime-sized holes, undeniable evidence of their presence, and move on.
Federal, state and city governments are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on programs to find and eradicate the tree-killing beetle. The task is extremely costly and time-consuming, but more efficient weapons against the pest may soon be on the way.
Mr. Smith, part of the agriculture department’s Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit in Delaware, is coming to Worcester in December to work in the field and try to develop faster, cheaper ways to detect and control the beetle.
The cost for Worcester’s program is growing as surveyors find more infested trees, according to U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern.
The total cost cannot be specified until surveyors determine the full extent of the infestation, but Mr. McGovern said it is expected to exceed $30 million for the first year.
Suzanne Bond, spokeswoman for the inspection program in Worcester, said the department has agreed to cover the costs for the first year of eradication efforts. But in the following years, costs will probably be divided among the federal, state and city governments, as they have been in Illinois, New Jersey and New York.
“Moving forward, cost-sharing relationships are basically part of the process,” Ms. Bond said.
Mr. McGovern said Worcester has already invested a lot of manpower in the beetle program and cannot afford to spend more.
“These are hard economic times,” he said, “and we shouldn’t have to pay for this.”
In terms of cost, it is best to intercept the beetle early on, according to Mr. Smith. Once the population grows past a certain point, it is no longer possible to eliminate it; at that point, regulating its growth becomes the goal.
“The Northeast is very worried,” Mr. Smith said.
In Worcester, the beetle is current inhabiting urban areas on the edge of forest, he said. If the beetle enters the forest, it will be much harder to contain.
Mr. Smith said the infestation in Worcester is large enough to allow him and his colleagues time to complete some fieldwork before workers chop down and grind up all the infested trees.
“There’s a lot we can learn that’s specific to the U.S. by getting our hands dirty up there,” he said.
Ms. Bond said efforts to survey the regulated area will continue to be ongoing throughout the winter.
Mr. Smith said the detection methods he is developing could save time and money for surveyors like those in Worcester by allowing them to determine more quickly which trees are infested.
The faster that workers can detect infested trees, the faster that they can eradicate the beetle, whose destruction of Northeastern trees and forests could potentially cause billions of dollars in damage to the lumber industry, the maple syrup industry and the tourism industry, which depends on fall colors. Water and air quality could also be affected.
So far, surveyors in Worcester have found more than 3,000 infested trees through the only available method--using their eyes or binoculars to examine trees one by one for markings associated with infestation. Often, they must climb the trees to look for markings in the canopy.
Mr. Smith said those methods are 66 percent effective, meaning that for every 10 infested trees examined, they can miss three or four infested trees.
As one alternative, Mr. Smith is trying to analyze the sound beetles make when they chew wood inside a tree. If he can determine the specific noise the chewing makes, he can detect infestations by touching an acoustic sensor to the tree.
“You can pretty much develop the acoustic signature,” he said, “and the sensor could recognize it, kind of how telephones can recognize your voice.”
Another tool would measure the amount of carbon dioxide in each tree. Because beetles produce carbon dioxide, infested trees would have unusually high levels.
“It’s in its early stages,” Mr. Smith said, “but it has been developed by a company that would use them to detect termites in walls.”
The tool, which looks much like an oversized remote control, has a metal, needle-like probe that would pierce the bark of the tree.
Because the best way to test the tool is in the field, Mr. Smith said, he will probably take it with him when he goes to Worcester in December.
Most of his other fieldwork has been in China, where he has spent two months every summer for the past 11 years.
“That’s the meat of my research,” he said, “because you need to study the beetle in its natural settings.”
In China, Mr. Smith collects species of wasps and brings them to his quarantined Delaware laboratory for study to determine whether wasps that parasitize the beetles could be used to help control infestations.
While in Worcester, Mr. Smith hopes to find native species of wasps that parasitize the beetle. To study the natives, he brings them to his insectary, a small, outdoor breeding house, where he allows them to grow inside large cylinders containing 2-foot log segments.
Standing in the insectary’s narrow, dusty walkways during warmer months, Mr. Smith is completely surrounded by some 500 cylinders, each filled with wood and a species of insect, stacked row-by-row.
Once the wasps develop, he brings them into the quarantined lab and unleashes them on logs infested with beetles, to see if they attack.
After three years of traveling to eastern forests, he has found four native species of wasps that act as the beetle’s natural enemies, he said. One wasp goes inside the tree, lays eggs on the outside of the beetle larvae and stays until the eggs hatch.
“If one of her eggs falls off the surface of that larvae, she’s able to move it back on,” he said. “The parental care is very amazing.”
The larvae grow inside the tree for most of the year and emerge as adults in the spring and summer.
Currently, surveyors can search only for trees infested with larvae and have no way of searching for adult beetles. But Mr. Smith is also developing a lure, an aroma that surveyors can use to attract beetles and determine if an area is infested.
To develop the lure, he is working with scientists to isolate the chemicals found in certain trees that the beetles are naturally attracted to.
Mr. Smith said he was “tickled pink” by the success he had in the lab this year and hopes to have a lure that could be mass-produced sometime soon.
Over every four or five-year period, some 15 exotic insect species are introduced to the United States but only one reproduces enough to become a major pest, according to Mr. Smith.
Many of those species, such as the Asian Longhorned Beetle, enter on foreign ships that dock at U.S. ports of entry.
If port inspectors find insects on board the vessel or in cargo, they box them and mail them to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where Department of Agriculture researcher Steven Lingafelter, an expert on Asian Longhorned Beetles, works. About 60 specimens arrive each day.
“When I find a specimen while I’m traveling in other countries, he (Lingafelter) is who I send it to if I need it identified,” Mr. Smith said.
Mr. Lingafelter got his job in the museum’s entomology department in 1996, on the same day the beetles were first found in New York, he said.
Mr. Lingafelter has traveled to China, Korea and Japan to study the beetles, and his office shelves are lined with jars of beetle larvae and pupae.
The Asian Longhorn Beetles are his favorite species, he said, in part because they are so colorful.
They come in a variety of shades, including white, yellow, black, orange, aqua and a deep, iridescent green. Each has spots, which are actually patches of densely packed hairs easily seen under a microscope.
“It’s really a beautiful group, for sure,” Mr. Lingafelter said.
###
Kerry’s Small Business Committee Releases Guide for Small Businesses
SMALLBUSINESS
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
November 7, 2008
WASHINGTON – Scott Bigelow, president of Bigelow Electrical in Worcester, said it was about a year and a half ago, when many of his competitors were going out of business, that he realized he needed a loan.
“I needed to expand in areas where we didn’t have the capital,” Mr. Bigelow said, “and so I called up Benjamin Franklin Bank.”
Mr. Bigelow said electric motor supply is not a flashy business that usually catches headlines, but motors are vital to industry and for nearly a century his company has provided them to Worcester.
Through Massachusetts’ Capital Access Program, which encourages banks to give loans to small business in lower income neighborhoods that would otherwise have trouble getting financing, Mr. Bigelow applied for a loan from Benjamin Franklin Bank.
“The bank saw that we were a candidate, I signed my life away and low and behold we were able to get the capital we needed,” Mr. Bigelow said.
Administered by the Massachusetts Business Development Corporation, the program, which helps businesses with less than $5 million in revenue, has received $15 million in state funding since 1993.
Corporation president Kenneth Smith said $10 million of those funds have been used to encourage more than 100 banks to loan money to some 3,800 small businesses in Massachusetts.
Banks are more comfortable making these somewhat riskier loans because the loans are backed by a reserve account, comprised of fees paid by the borrowers and state funds.
Mr. Smith said the banks determine the credit criteria for loans and while the maximum loan is $500,000, the average is around $70,000.
“It’s extremely flexible because borrowers can use it for working capital, real estate, equipment, pretty much anything they want,” Mr. Smith said.
Because the program has helped so many small businesses, Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., included it in a reference guide that describes state programs from across the country that help small businesses.
Sen. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, who is the senior Republican on the committee, began more than a year ago asking governors and economic development agencies for feedback on successful small business programs.
The guide, which also includes programs from Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, features two programs from Massachusetts.
“These ideas have been put into action and are actually working today for small businesses,” Mr. Kerry said in an October press release.
Blain Marchand, vice president of commercial lending at Benjamin Franklin Bank, said his bank has been part of the capital access program for almost four years.
“It really allows us to write loans that we might otherwise have to pass on,” Mr. Marchand said.
Maria Heskes-Allard, vice president of Clinton Savings Bank, said her bank has participated in the program for more than two years. Since then, she said, the bank has given out 7 loans totaling some $600,000 to clients that might have had a hard time getting financed.
One of those clients is Roger McCarthy, owner of McCarthy’s Landscaping and Irrigation in West Boylston, which has done landscaping design and construction for almost 14 years.
Mr. McCarthy used the loan to acquire a building where his 18-employee business could develop. In the 13 years before then, he had been working out of a garage area with only a small office for client meetings.
“It’s helped us close more jobs because clients can come into a professional atmosphere,” Mr. McCarthy said.
The other Massachusetts program in the guide is the Small Business Technical Assistance Grant Program, which awards state funds to community development corporations whose mission is helping small businesses.
“The services applicants offer small businesses can be as simple as helping them put together an accounting system, helping with various software programs, or getting on more solid ground when it comes to bookkeeping,” said Andre Porter, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Mr. Porter said the state office, which has received some $1 million in state funds for the program each year since it began in 2004, awarded grants to 29 applicants in fiscal 2008.
One of those grant recipients was the Martin Luther King Jr. Business Empowerment Center in Worcester, which offers resources, business training and low cost office space to small businesses. The center received $115,000 in 2007, some 18 percent of its total budget.
“What this grant enables us to do is provide low cost technical assistance to small business who are looking to start up their ventures or to grow them,” said Felicia Riffelmacher, vice president of the center.
InnerCity Entrepreneurs, a company that offers management training to existing small businesses in Massachusetts, also received a program grant.
Jean Horstman, chief executive officer of InnerCity, said the company has received grants for the last two years and used the most recent grant of some $40,000 to create a branch in Worcester.
In two years, the company has helped 19 small businesses access $4.1 million in new loans to expand business and generate 58 new jobs.
The reference guide of programs for small businesses is available in its entirety on the Web site for the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, http://sbc.senate.gov/.
###
Central Massachusetts Members Look Forward to 111th Congress
NEWPRES
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
November 5, 2008
WASHINGTON - With a new, Democratic president and an increased Democratic congressional majority, the newly reelected House members from Central Massachusetts are optimistic about the legislative playing field.
U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, said he expects President Barack Obama to practice bipartisanship, even with an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress.
“I think his speech reflected that he understands he’s not just president of the Democrats, but of everyone in this country,” Mr. McGovern said. “I think there will be a bipartisan cabinet and that he will work in a bipartisan way.”
Mr. McGovern said he has every reason to believe the new Congress will work well with Mr. Obama and does not expect much contention within the Democratic Party.
“Maybe that’s wishful thinking, but I just don’t,” Mr. McGovern said.
U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Amherst, said in a statement that he is also very excited about Capitol Hill’s new dynamic.
With Mr. Obama as president, he said, Congress has a chance to take the country in a new direction by restoring market regulations, passing another economic stimulus package and bringing an end to the Iraq war.
“The time has come for us to put in place and execute a plan to safely disengage our troops from Iraq and bring our soldiers home,” Mr. Olver said. “That policy shift is long overdue.”
Mr. Olver said Congress must also mandate emissions reductions for greenhouse gases and enact health care reform.
“Looking forward, the 111th Congress must also get serious about finally providing health care coverage to the 46 million Americans who have no health insurance,” he said.
Health care reform is also a big concern for U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Lowell, she said in a statement on Tuesday.
“I will work to give all Americans, especially our children, access to quality, affordable health care because we can do so much better than the system we have today,” Ms. Tsongas said.
Ms. Tsongas said in an interview that while the Democrats are a diverse lot, they embrace the same fundamental values on economic and energy policies.
“Where you have some differences of opinion are when you get down into the details, and those are things we can work out through the legislative process,” Ms. Tsongas said.
Ms. Tsongas also said it will be interesting to see if Mr. Obama appoints a bipartisan cabinet.
“I think clearly President-elect Obama brings a very measured approach, is clearly focused on creating an atmosphere that brings people together, and if that includes reaching out to and appointing some cabinet members from across the aisle, that is a good thing,” Ms. Tsongas said.
###
Obama Leads McCain in Local Fundraising
WorcesterFEC
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
October 24, 2008
WASHINGTON – Democrat Barack Obama has raised far more money in Massachusetts than Republican John McCain, a trend also seen in campaign contributions in seven Central Massachusetts cities.
Through September, 335 residents of Worcester, Fitchburg, Leominster, Auburn, Shrewsbury, and Westborough made 1,173 contributions of $200 or more to Mr. Obama totaling $192,749. That amount is almost three times the $72,809 that 101 McCain supporters in those cities gave in 193 contributions of $200 or more in that same time period, according to campaign filings with the Federal Election Commission.
In Southbridge, alone among the seven cities, Mr. McCain out-raised Mr. Obama, collecting $7,650 from three donors to Mr. Obama’s $1,259 from five donors.
Throughout the state, Mr. Obama received $12.1 million in campaign contributions through August, more than triple Mr. McCain’s $3.6 million in receipts.
Beginning on Sept. 4, when he accepted his party’s nomination, Mr. McCain, who had agreed to accept $84.1 million in public financing of his campaign, could no longer receive private donations for his campaign; Mr. Obama, who opted out of the public system, continued to accept private contributions.
Thus, in September alone, Mr. Obama raised $58,054 to Mr. McCain’s $4,105 in the seven Central Massachusetts cities.
In Worcester 173 residents contributed 614 times to Mr. Obama’s campaign, raising $85,389 through September, almost half the total Democratic dollars raised by all seven cities.
“I truly believe in him and his platform,” said lifetime Worcester resident Rosemary Leary, who gave $1,250. “It’s time for a change.”
Ms. Leary, 59, said she often received e-mail messages from Mr. Obama’s campaign and felt it was urgent to contribute money and help ensure his election. As president, she said, Mr. Obama would help end the war in Iraq.
“I lived through Vietnam and I can’t do it again,” Ms. Leary said. “We've already lost thousands of young people, part of a future generation.”
Not all Worcester residents agree with Ms. Leary: 40 of them contributed 74 times to Mr. McCain's campaign for a total of $32,677 as of the end of September, according to the campaign’s filings.
Another lifetime Worcester resident, Wallace Myers, 78, contributed seven times for a total of $222, to Mr. McCain’s campaign. Mr. Myers said he received at least three solicitations for every contribution he made.
Mr. Myers, who described himself as moderate and informed about politics, said he thinks Mr. McCain is the better presidential candidate because Mr. Obama is too liberal.
“The Democrat is an ultra leftist, and I feel he would totally destroy the country, not that it isn’t in pretty bad shape as it is,” Mr. Myers said. “I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw him.”
Like Mr. Myers, Thomas Ardinger, who has lived in Leominster for 38 years, said he trusts Mr. McCain more than Mr. Obama when it comes to running the nation. Mr. Ardinger, who donated $500 to Mr. McCain, is one of 7 people in Leominster who contributed a total $3,865 to Mr. McCain.
“While the economy is important, the general position of character is something I look for in a presidential candidate,” Mr. Ardinger said. “I look for someone I can trust.”
Mr. Obama raised more than twice that amount in 47 contributions from 15 contributors in Leominster.
College of the Holy Cross professor David Schaefer said he is not surprised that Mr. Obama received more money than Mr. McCain in six of the seven cities because Republicans are a minority among Massachusetts residents.
“Like the state as a whole, though less so than Boston and its suburbs, Central Massachusetts leans Democratic,” Mr. Schaefer said.
In 2004, all seven of these Central Massachusetts cities, including Southbridge, voted for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry. Even so, Southbridge residents contributed more money to President George W. Bush than to Mr. Kerry.
Keith Stone, a 46-year-old Fitchburg resident who retired last year, contributed 14 times to Mr. Obama’s campaign, giving a total of $640. Mr. Stone said Mr. Obama should be president because he will change current political policies.
“To have John McCain admit on TV that he voted 90 percent of the time with the president showed that voting for him is like asking for another four years of the same policies,” Mr. Stone said.
Mr. Stone said residents of Fitchburg, whose mayor may turn off certain streetlights to help manage the city budget, cannot afford four more years like recent ones. He and 18 other Fitchburg residents contributed $9,691 through Sept. 30 to Mr. Obama through 121 contributions, more than 12 times the amount given to Mr. McCain in the same period in that city.
But lifetime Democrats are not the only people supporting Obama. Professor Frank Minasian, chairman of Worcester State College’s Political Science Department, said some traditionally Republican areas in Massachusetts are becoming more Democratic.
Jonathan Carey, a 34-year Auburn resident who voted for Mr. Bush in 2004, said Mr. Obama will be the first Democrat he has ever voted for.
“I think the final straw for me with John McCain was when he picked Sara Palin, who I just don't think is qualified to take over this country,” Mr. Carey said. “It frightened me, and it should frighten everybody.”
Because he feels so strongly that Mr. Obama should be president, Mr. Carey has donated $189, his first ever political contribution, to Mr. Obama’s campaign, he said.
Mr. Carey also said he supports Mr. Obama because his policies will help end the war in Iraq and help the middle and lower classes financially.
“My wife and I adopted three little girls with special needs who are now teenagers,” Mr. Carey said. “A lot of the policies the Democrats are proposing are things that will help my family and my children, which is key to us.”
While Mr. Carey and 51 other Auburn residents contributed $4,616 to Mr. Obama, 6 Auburn residents contributed $3,711, or about 20 percent less, to Mr. McCain.
###
Massachusetts Gets Boost in Home Heating Funds
MassHeating
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University and Washington News Service
October 17, 2008
WASHINGTON - Massachusetts is receiving $213.5 million in federal funds to help low-income families heat their homes this winter, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday.
“These funds will help reduce the risk of health and safety problems exacerbated by the exposure to extreme temperatures,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.
The money, an increase of $87 million from last year’s funding, is part of an omnibus spending bill the Senate passed in September for the fiscal year 2009.
Melissa Wagoner, spokeswoman for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said Mr. Kennedy is very pleased the money has been released.
“No family should have to make impossible choices between heating their home or putting food on the table or taking a sick child to the doctor,” Ms. Wagoner said. “These funds will ease that burden.”
Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., said this funding will reassure families that help is on the way.
“This is welcome news for thousands of families in our state who have been struggling to make ends meet because of skyrocketing home energy prices,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement.
The omnibus spending bill gave $5.1 billion to the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for distribution among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Massachusetts’ $213.5 million includes some $50 million in contingency funds, which are distributed in times of need at the discretion of federal and state governments.
Mark Sanborn, director of energy resources for the Worcester Community Action Council, a non-profit organization that helps homeowners and renters with heating costs, safety and applications for assistance, said the state usually makes the contingency funds available immediately.
He said while he and others at the Council are pleased that the total funding has increased, they are anxious to know what formula will be used this year to determine who is eligible to receive those funds.
“We are on pins and needles waiting at this point,” Mr. Sanborn said.
The council started an outreach program in July where members traveled to senior centers and councils on aging urging people eligible under the current formula to apply and be certified before distribution begins on Nov. 1.
The current formula, Mr. Sanborn said, includes households with a gross income of up to 200 percent of the poverty level or $42,400. State officials are considering changing the formula to include households with a gross income of up to 60 percent of the median income level, or $51,252.
Under the current formula, the council has denied 308 of the 6,356 households that have applied so far this year, Sanborn said.
“And we’re still in October,” Jill C. Dagilis, executive director of the council said. “The real rush and flood will come as soon as it’s November and really cold weather strikes.”
Mr. Sanborn said that while state officials must specify which formula will apply by Nov. 1, they usually do so early enough to notify oil vendors, utility companies and others of any changes.
In addition to the $213.5 million in federal funding, the state has $11.5 million in unused contingency funding released on Sept. 21 for the fiscal year 2008, according to Phil Hailer, spokesman for the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
The state also approved in August the distribution of $10 million in state money for heating oil assistance for low-income families.
Mr. Hailer said his office is pleased that $213.5 million has been released, especially since energy prices increased so much in the past year.
“It’s great news to see this type of funding come for LIHEAP clients this winter,” he said.
U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, said the increase should make home heating a little easier for people already struggling to buy prescription drugs and food.
“This is something the New England delegation bas been fighting and lobbying for,” Mr. McGovern said.
###
U.S. House Members Vote for Senate Financial Rescue Bill
HOUSEVOTE
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
October 3, 2008
WASHINGTON - Members of Congress from central Massachusetts stuck by their “yes” votes on Friday as House members passed the Senate’s version of the financial rescue bill.
All agreed that passing the imperfect bill was better than doing nothing, which they said would only have caused further economic upset.
“The credit markets would further tighten and the people that I represent – even those who want me to vote ‘no,’ would be hurt very badly,” U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern said on the House floor Friday, before the vote.
Mr. McGovern said that he appreciates the sentiment of one of his constituents, who suggested that Wall Street businessmen “take a long walk off a short pier.”
Still, he said, acting based on that anger would not help any struggling homeowners, small business owners, or people desperate for loans.
“I want someone to pay a price – or to at least assume responsibility – for this economic mess before we do anything else,” Mr. McGovern said. “But while that might be good therapy, it’s not good economic policy.”
That is why Mr. McGovern supported the bill, he said, even though he would have preferred it contained strong bankruptcy protection, stricter limits on CEO compensation, an economic stimulus package aimed at helping working families and firmer pay-back provisions.
U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal also said in an interview on Friday that the bill was necessary, despite its imperfections, because it would bring some stability to the markets.
Mr. Neal said that the bill contained other necessary provisions such as one to shield more than 20 million taxpayers nationwide from the Alternative Minimum Tax..
“The AMT legislation is welcome relief for tens if not hundreds of thousands of people in Massachusetts,” Mr. Neal said.
U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas said in an interview on Friday that she was persuaded early on by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke that the legislation would help steady the markets.
“I think it’s very fortunate that today we had much larger numbers both on the Democratic and Republican sides, enough to pass the bill,” Ms. Tsongas said.
Mr. McGovern said in an interview on Friday that as late as Thursday night he was uncertain enough people would vote to pass the bill.
Mr. Neal said more people voted for the bill than he had expected.
Unlike the original House bill that failed on Monday, this bill contained sweeteners added by the Senate on Wednesday, including the three key ones:
· An extension of a number of tax breaks including business tax breaks for people using, producing and investing in renewable fuels
· A temporary increase in the limit on federal bank deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000
· An adjustment of the Alternative Minimum Tax, an income tax for the wealthy, to reflect inflation.
In a statement on Friday U.S. Rep. John W. Olver said no one is confident that the bill’s passage signals an end to legislation needed help the financial system.
“We will almost certainly be back next year to overhaul our financial regulatory system so the same practices that caused this crisis will not reoccur,” Mr. Olver said.
###
McGovern Says He Would Vote for Senate Economic Bill
REVOTE
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
October 1, 2008
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, said on Wednesday that he would vote for the Senate’s version of the $700 billion financial system rescue bill should it reach the House floor on Friday.
Despite its imperfections, he said, the bill would prevent an economic meltdown in which markets would tighten further or even collapse.
“All of us are angry at Wall Street and this culture of greed, but we are where we are, and I think it’s irresponsible to do nothing,” Mr. McGovern said. “We need to act, and hopefully there will be enough votes to get this thing passed.”
Mr. McGovern said one of the bill’s imperfections is the tax-break package the Senate added to the bill on Wednesday. The package, which Mr. McGovern said would add to the biggest government debt in U.S. history, includes tax breaks for people who spend on alternative energy, businesses and children.
“I would’ve liked it [the tax break package] more if it was paid for, but the Senate has decided not to pay for it,” Mr. McGovern said.
Despite that flaw, Mr. McGovern said, the inclusion of tax breaks for Main Street may give members who voted against the bill on Monday an excuse to vote for it on Friday.
At this point, he said, House members must vote up or down on the package to avoid more amendments that would stall the package further, forcing each chamber to vote again.
“You can’t do anything unless you stabilize the economy, and that’s what this rescue package is all about,” Mr. McGovern said. “We need to take the next two steps, which are putting in proper regulations so it doesn’t happen again and then talking about enacting an economic stimulus package that will meet …basic needs, including infrastructure.”
Since Monday Mr. McGovern has been in his district, speaking with community members and explaining the reasons why he voted for the bill on Monday and why he continues to support it.
“To be honest with you, it was good to be home and away from Washington for a couple of days,” Mr. McGovern said.
A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Lowe, said the Democrats are expected to caucus Thursday to discuss the Senate bill in greater detail and build bipartisan support for it.
Tsongas, who voted for the bill on Monday, said then that bipartisan action must be taken as soon as possible to restore market stability.
“We will continue to keep working in a bipartisan way, in coordination with the Bush administration, to come up with a solution to alleviate this crisis,” Tsongas said.
###
Service for Murdered Becker Student Draws Huge Crowd
FUNERAL
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
September 27, 2008
ST. INIGOES, MD. - The rain fell hard on rural Southern Maryland Saturday morning as some 1,500 mourners gathered at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church to say farewell to William L. Smith, 19, a Becker College student killed in Worcester last week.
Known by most who knew him as “Will,” and by those closest to him as “Little William,” he was a high school all-star baseball, basketball and football player who attended West Virginia University Institute of Technology and Shepherd University before transferring to Becker College this fall to major in sports management.
“I was his first baby-sitter, this little bundle of joy with a big head,” Will’s cousin William Shade said at the service. “The first thing he did was run around with a basketball.”
Church leaders were joined by a gospel choir of friends, family, and community members that swayed back and forth in unison, warming the chilly, wind-swept room with song and charisma.
The crowd of mourners spilled out into the church’s hallways while nearly a hundred more people stood in the churchyard with only umbrellas for cover.
St. Peter Claver is a small church whose red brick walls and wooden rooftop date back to the early 20th century when it was built as one of the first predominantly black parishes in St. Mary’s County.
On Saturday its walls were lined with students, teachers and friends as family and parishioners led the two-hour memorial service.
“I don’t have a favorite memory of Will,” said Timothy Smith, Will’s brother and only sibling. “My life story is my favorite.”
Also in attendance were Becker College administrators John S. Prosser, chairman of the board of Trustees, Vice President Gerald Tuori and a busload of Becker sports team members and head basketball coach Brian Gorman.
“A tragedy like this is hard for any school or institution, but this was even more tragic to us because it was obvious to Will and his close friends that Becker was a great match for him,” Mr. Prosser said in an interview before the service. “Our basketball coach hoped he would’ve made our team and a number of our students and staff grew close to him in a very short time.”
One of Will’s 27 aunts and uncles, Orlando “Tubby” Smith, also spoke at the service. He said he appreciated the support shown by people in Worcester and students at Becker College.
“The support that folks have given us at Becker College has made an unbearable situation bearable and survivable,” Mr. Smith said.
In a telephone interview on Friday, Mr. Smith said his nephew Will was gifted in many ways but especially in his love of sports and competition.
“There was just so much going on. He was preparing to really move on to a different phase” after having tried football, Mr. Smith said. He said his nephew told him he wanted “to try basketball, and that was dear in my heart as well because I’m a basketball coach.”
Mr. Smith coached the University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball team for 10 years and currently coaches the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers. He said he and the rest of the Smith family will miss Will, a special young man who touched many who knew him well and many who were just getting to know him.
“He was just such a young person and he had so much ahead,” Mr. Smith said. “He’s just in a better place now. We loved him dearly and appreciate all the wonderful thoughts and concerns and prayers that people have extended to William and his family.”
Other speakers at the service included John Bohannan, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, the Rev. Leroy Boldley, pastor of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in St. Inigoes, and several other pastors from around the state.
William Smith was stabbed once in the chest outside of an apartment building in Worcester on the evening of Saturday, Sept. 20. He died around 2:45 a.m. Sunday at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center. He was buried in his hometown, Scotland, Md.
####
