Top Stories - July 24, 2006

Romney vs. the Overseer of the Big Dig



Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman Matt Amorello (photo at left), who oversees the beleaguered Big Dig highway project, filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to prevent the governor from ousting him from his $223,000-a-year post.

In the lawsuit, Amorello asks a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court to block Gov. Mitt Romney from demoting him and to prevent a hearing from taking place where the governor is supposed to act as judge and jury in seeking his removal.

Amorello has been under fire over the past several years as Romney has criticized his management of the Big Dig. In the two weeks since 12 tons of ceiling panels from a Big Dig tunnel collapsed, killing a 39-year-old Boston woman, Romney has renewed his calls for Amorello's ouster -- and said the accident shows that he's incapable of overseeing the $14.6 billion highway project.

Amorello's lawyers contend that the governor does not have the authority to demote him. The governor's move would strictly strip Amorello of his position as chairman and chief executive, but he could remain on the five-member board, a position that pays about $25,000 a year.

"The governor has invented a power he does not have," according to the 12-page lawsuit.

The Wife of Celts Owner Joins the Pike Board

Today Gov. Mitt Romney appointed Judy M. Pagliuca, a financial manager with a mechanical engineering degree, to the board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
She replaces his original pick, Beth Lindstrom, who stepped down today because the board was packed with more Republicans than state law allows. State rules prohibit more than three members of any one political party on the board.
The Eerie Death of a Young Woman
A young mother died early yesterday after she was gunned down while kneeling to light a candle in her slain brother’s memory, her life’s blood spilling on the very spot where her beloved brother was killed exactly four years ago - almost to the hour.
Analicia “Anna” Perry, 20, the mother of 4-year-old Nyarie Bacchus, was shot in the face at 11:26 p.m. Saturday when she arrived to tend to a makeshift shrine for her brother, Robert Perry. The bullet traveled into her brain, and she died three hours later at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Police still don’t know who shot her or why.
“It’s crazy,” said a distraught and devastated Chyneatha Perry, 26, now forced to bury a second sibling. “It’s like a dream. Everyone thinks it’s a dream that we’re going to wake up from. How does this happen? The same day. The same place. Four years ago.”

Patrick Meets with Potential Running Mates

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick plans to hold discussions with all three of his party's lieutenant governor candidates on Tuesday, but an aide denied he was seeking a running mate.

The conversations, to be held by telephone with Worcester Mayor Timothy Murray, Cape Cod businesswoman Andrea Silbert and former Brookline selectwoman Deb Goldberg, came after one of the three requested to talk with Patrick, according to Patrick spokesman Richard Chacon. He would not reveal who approached Patrick.

In fairness, Patrick decided to speak with all three, Chacon said.

(Sources: boston.com, bostonherald.com)
Coming soon: My day at the Shaw's grand opening!