Sunday, November 4, 2012
Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to appoint an independent investigator soon to focus on the wider effects and root causes of the scandal at the shuttered State Drug Lab in JP.
Legal defense and civil rights groups are applauding a move to take the investigation of the State Drug Lab scandal out of the Attorney General's hands. The state's top law enforcement official, Attorney General Martha Coakley, has agreed to a plan for an independent investigator to take over a probe of the wider effects and root causes of the scandal at the shuttered State Drug Lab in JP, according to several media sources. Coakley will continue the more narrow criminal probe against so-called "rogue chemist" Annie Dookhan, however. She is the chemist accused of tainting evidence in 34,000 or more drug cases. Her alleged actions have already sent dozens of convicted drug dealers back onto Bay State streets. Critics had called on Coakley…
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
A new law would require lenders to enter into government-run mediation before foreclosing on a property.
In the face of a skyrocketing foreclosure rate across the state, lawmakers are trying to make it harder for banks to take back houses. The Senate passed a bill filed by Attorney General Martha Coakley, and passed in a different version by the House in May, that would force lenders to enter into a state-controlled mediation process that could include loan restructuring before foreclosing on a homeowner. The Senate version of the bill will now go back to the House for a vote. In the meantime, a separate House bill that calls for mediation in Boston foreclosures is making its way through the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government. The fate of that bill could be determined by the one passed by the Senate. "I think it …
Thursday, August 25, 2011
"If it's too nice, think twice," coalition cautions Boston's elderly population.
When Laura Lankford was told by a woman claiming to be an H&R Block employee and that she was eligible as a senior citizen for a Massachusetts tax refund, she had no reason to expect that she'd actually end up owing the Commonwealth $3,000. That, however, is exactly the position she's found herself in. Lankford paid the woman who offered what she called assistance, did in fact receive a tax refund from the state, and was subsequently audited and told she owed the money back. "I'm very distraught about this because I don't have any money to give back," Lankford said through tears at a press conference today at the Roche Community Center. Lankford was a victim of a scam artist. Scams and fraud have become an issue amongst senior citizens …
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