Only online

Posted by Brittany Durgin

You can find online extras to accompany our print copy, and here’s where:

Showing off – Mopeds are taking over the city. See a photo gallery of all different types and colors of mopeds. Yes, they even come in purple.

Candidate videos – We’ve published our endorsements, now hear audio clips and see photos from the interviews our editorial board had with the candidates in helping to make our decision.

Photos from groundbreaking – See photos from the Washburn House groundbreaking ceremony. This may be the only time you’ll see the mayor with a sledge hammer in hand.

Hear her before you see her – You can catch Kelley Suttenfield live in performance this Friday in Framingham, but you can hear her first in our Woo Town Sounds pick of the week.

As promised, a write up of last night’s debate

Posted by Jeremy Shulkin

Here’s a quick write up of something that happened almost 24 hours ago.

Priyanka Dayal, over at the Telegram, continues her solid coverage of the 3rd district race with her recap of last night. I suggest you read that.

But, here are a few gut reactions to last night’s Northborough Tea Party sponsored debate:

Bond ratings: not just for nerds anymore

Posted by Jeremy Shulkin

Three major bond rating agencies, Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s have all maintained their high ratings for the city of Worcester (respectively: A1, AA-, A-), despite a year of budget cuts, revenue loss and raised taxes for FY11.

In a report released today by the City Manager’s office, Manager Michael O’Brien credits MassPort’s takeover of the airport, the commencement of CitySquare, new PILOT agreements and collective bargaining contracts that have resulted in zero percent wage increases and higher health care contributions from public sector unions.

3rd Congressional debate live blog

Posted by Jeremy Shulkin

I’ll be in Northborough tonight as candidates Patrick Barron, Marty Lamb and Jim McGovern partake in a debate hosted by the Northborough Tea Party and moderated by Hank Stolz.

I’ll be using our Cover It Live thing for this, which means (internet-willing) my writing will upload on your screen in real time, and you’ll be able to write back to me to ask questions or make observations.

Click here to get to the discussion, or to review it tomorrow.

Update: As you can probably tell, there was no live blog tonight, due to some tricky password at the Senior Center. I’ll try to get some kind of reaction that differs from the Telegram‘s version up after we go to press tomorrow.

No city council live blog tonight (and a related poll)

Posted by Jeremy Shulkin

Sadly, our streak of city council live blog coverage will come to an end tonight, as I will be in Northborough to CoverItLive-blog the debate between Patrick Barron, Marty Lamb and Jim McGovern. (See post above.)

For tonight’s meeting though, you can find the agenda here.

Some things to look for:
-Lukes wants Manager O’Brien to look into privatizing parking, the Hope Cemetery and the DCU Center
-She’s also back with more social media integration into government (10F)
-Mayor O’Brien wants more money for soccer fields
-Rushton is going for “Vollywood” — making Worcester a hub for videogame design
-Some concerns over who’s taking the city’s early retirement offer in the clerk and/or auditor departments

On a related note, a poll!

Update 11/1/10: Brett Favre played yesterday, rending this poll meaningless. (Although we’re enthused that people appreciate Worcester Mag‘s council attendance streak.

Hear them, see them, decide

Posted by Brittany Durgin

Worcester Mag’s editorial board sat down with each candidate from both the District 13 and the sheriff race to find out more about them and to make a decision on an endorsement. Before reading our decision this Thursday, October 28 in print, we encourage you to hear audio clips and see photos from every interview on worcestermag.com and make your own choice.

District 13 get the inside scoop on:

John Mahoney

 

 

 

Paul Franco

 

 

 

Ron Madnick

 

 

 

 

Sheriff race find out more about:

Lew Evangelidis

 

 

 

Tom Foley

 

 

 

Keith Nicholas

Casting Tom Foley

Posted by Jeremy Shulkin

It was recently announced that author Chuck Hogan (writer of “Prince of Thieves,” which turned into the movie “The Town”) will help write a new movie about the investigation of Whitey Bulger and crooked FBI agent John Connolly, Jr, to focus largely on Connolly’s trial.

Sheriff candidate Tom Foley played a large part in the investigation and he’ll most likely end up as a character in the movie. This brings us to what is now the biggest question this election season: who should play the part of Tom Foley?

Local police endorse McKenna for AG

Posted by Jeremy Shulkin

Both the local police officials union (IBPO) and patrolmen (NEPBA) have endorsed Millbury’s Jim McKenna in the race for attorney general. According to IBPO local 504 president Donald Cummings, they had the sense that McKenna would better utilize local law enforcement agencies to help prosecuting cases, and has experience in criminal justice.