News Talk for the week of April 19

Have you driven down Broadway after 5 a.m. lately? Around Foss Park in front of the Dunkin Donuts, have you noticed there is usually over one hundred men, some say ‚Äúillegal immigrants,‚Äù looking for cheap day work? Watch all the contractors pull in and quickly pull off with two or three, and sometimes even more, day workers who will work for extremely low rates. Well, we‚Äôre not the only ones that noticed, apparently the IRS has been noticing along with us. We heard from reliable sources that there is going to be a sting operation which will not just invovoled the workers but the contractors who illegally hire the day workers. You don‚Äôt have to be a rocket scientist to know that strange men sitting in vans taking pictures day after day is not a good sign.         
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We heard some interesting items this week about the Anthony Galluccio ‚Äì Jarrett Barrios state Senate race. A source inside Congressman Mike Capuano‚Äôs camp said Capuano is going to support Galluccio. We also heard ultra-liberal (and expected Barrios supporters) state Rep. Carl Sciortino and state Rep. Alice Wolf are staying neutral. In February, Dan Cohen, progressive pollster for Sciortino and Senator Pat Jehlen campaigns, spoke on Galluccio‚Äôs behalf at a Progressive Democrats of Cambridge meeting (By the way, does Cambridge really need more whacko liberals? Just a thought). Could the progressives be losing interest in Barrios? Could Galluccio actually have a chance to beat his old nemesis?   News talk has been told the local progressive posse has become disillusioned with Barrios and wouldn‚Äôt mind seeing him struggle against Galluccio. Tune in to the state-wide elections in November for the exciting conclusion.

Have you driven down Broadway after 5 a.m. lately? Around Foss Park in front of the Dunkin Donuts, have you noticed there is usually over one hundred men, some say ‚Äúillegal immigrants,‚Äù looking for cheap day work? Watch all the contractors pull in and quickly pull off with two or three, and sometimes even more, day workers who will work for extremely low rates. Well, we‚Äôre not the only ones that noticed, apparently the IRS has been noticing along with us. We heard from reliable sources that there is going to be a sting operation which will not just invovoled the workers but the contractors who illegally hire the day workers. You don‚Äôt have to be a rocket scientist to know that strange men sitting in vans taking pictures day after day is not a good sign.         
                                                        ********
We heard some interesting items this week about the Anthony Galluccio ‚Äì Jarrett Barrios state Senate race. A source inside Congressman Mike Capuano‚Äôs camp said Capuano is going to support Galluccio. We also heard ultra-liberal (and expected Barrios supporters) state Rep. Carl Sciortino and state Rep. Alice Wolf are staying neutral. In February, Dan Cohen, progressive pollster for Sciortino and Senator Pat Jehlen campaigns, spoke on Galluccio‚Äôs behalf at a Progressive Democrats of Cambridge meeting (By the way, does Cambridge really need more whacko liberals? Just a thought). Could the progressives be losing interest in Barrios? Could Galluccio actually have a chance to beat his old nemesis?   News talk has been told the local progressive posse has become disillusioned with Barrios and wouldn‚Äôt mind seeing him struggle against Galluccio. Tune in to the state-wide elections in November for the exciting conclusion.
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Now City Hall wants to have the aldermen approve the expenditure of $100,000.00 to acquire a program that will dial up all the phones in the city and let them know when there’s a snow emergency or if there’s a problem. $100,000.00 for a few who will still complain when their car is towed because they didn’t realize that the city is towing when there is 2 feet of snow? Why in fiscally tight times are we spending that kind of money, when we could hire say… 2 polices officers or 2 fireman? Who says creativity isn’t alive in Somerville.
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Ok what‚Äôs going on? Seems that last week the Water Department personnel, including its department head, were all absent from work in the same day. Rumor around town is that something is going on again down at the DPW. Could someone be getting fired again? What was the important union meeting about last Wednesday evening?      
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Still no word from Captain Charles Femino on the missing money from the Traffic & Parking department theft last December. We’re still waiting along with half the city to hear how the exams are going and how long will it take? Charlie? Charlie? Maybe the Acting Police Chief needs to get some answers.
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The Mayor is going to endorse Bruce Desmond in his run for Middlesex County Clerk of Courts.   These two have not always been close political allies, could Mayor Joe be doing this to try and convince Bruce not to run against him in the next election?   We have already been told Tony LaFuente is running so that he can decrease the tax assessment on his home. Never mind, the Mayor‚Äôs race is too far away.    
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At the Patriots Day ceremony Monday Foss Park was filled with about 100 people. Take away the police and City Hall staff and maybe 60 regular folks were present. This is an event that has been happening in Somerville for many years, there was a lot of hard work put into it by a lot of people and groups in Somerville, hopefully we can gather more of a crowd for this patriotic event next year.