State Senator Scott Brown, who represents the Norfolk, Bristol, and Middlesex Districts, has launched a new campaign website.
Check it out at www.scottbrown4senate.com.
August 30th, 2008
Coming to a Starbucks near you (about 30 in the Boston area) are new high-tech machines that will brew “customized cups of coffee.”
Starbucks Corp.’s luck could change with the help of a clover, but not the four-leaf kind. Instead, the Seattle coffee giant is seeking a boost from the Clover brewing system, a sophisticated machine that turns out customized cups of coffee at a premium price.
The system is being tested in Boston and Seattle, but the company is expected to say today that it is rolling out more Clovers in the two cities and will introduce them in San Francisco.
About 30 Starbucks shops in the Boston area will get the machines, compared with 10 in Seattle and an undisclosed number in San Francisco. They will debut Sept. 9 in Boston and today in Seattle. The San Francisco date has not been finalized.
The Boston market is of special importance because it allows Starbucks to test Clover against its major competitor, Canton-based Dunkin’ Donuts, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic Inc., a Chicago consulting firm. Starbucks has about 200 stores in Massachusetts, while Dunkin’ Donuts has about 1,100.
Dunkin’ Donuts declined to comment.
How does a cup of coffee from Clover machine compare in cost to the regular Starbucks brew?
The price can vary from store to store, but the Starbucks at 1 Charles St. - one of the Boston pilot stores - charges $1.65 for a regular “tall” coffee and $2.25 for a Clover brew of the same size. In general, Clover coffee ranges in price from $2 to $4, the company said.
I’m intrigued…but in time where consumers get excited that gas is getting down to $3.55/gallon from the over $4/gallon we were used to earlier this summer, will others be willing test this special brew at such a premium?
“We are making bold moves toward transforming our business for the long term and at the same time making the tough decisions to ride out this extremely challenging economic environment,” said Joe Dallacqua, Starbucks’ vice president of regional operations. “The Clover delivers a one-of-a-kind brewed coffee experience that fits with Starbucks’ long history of coffee expertise.”
Clover customers will be able to choose from a new collection of small-batch coffees, some of which may be rare and available for a limited time. It takes about a minute to brew a cup, depending on the type of coffee and customer preferences.
Perhaps it’s all the brewing method that will make the taste of the coffee speak for itself.
With a Clover machine, brewers can set the time and temperature of the selected coffee to accommodate the characteristics of the bean selected. Vacuum-press technology pulls the coffee through a 70-micron filter in which “every hole is like a hair’s breadth,” said David Latourell, formerly of Coffee Equipment Co. and now a Starbucks employee. The Clover “really brings coffee back into focus” for Starbucks, Latourell said.
The Clover’s “unique sort of extraction” allows flavors to come out of the coffee, said Anthony Carroll, who selects coffees for Starbucks.
“The flavor is already there. Clover really helps just accentuate them,” Carroll said. “You’re going to discover a whole bunch of different flavors in their coffees that you didn’t know would or should be there.”
As an everyday Starbucks customer, I’m ready to try it. If it is as good as people are suggesting it is, I will be more than happy to pay the premium for a customized cup of coffee.
August 26th, 2008
A few teenagers in Beverly Farms decided to poke a little fun at the Gloucester teenagers who allegedly took part in a pregnancy pact in quite a public way–on parade.
The Horribles Parade in an affluent area north of Boston is supposed to poke fun and feature all things politically incorrect. But a float that spoofed the spike in teen pregnancies in a nearby city was too much for three parade judges.
The annual Fourth of July Horribles parade in Beverly Farms included a float with dancing girls with pillows stuffed under their shirts.
That offended Carolyn Kirk, mayor of Gloucester, a working class city 30 miles north of Boston that made headlines last month when a high school principal told Time magazine that some of the 17 students who became pregnant this school year had made a pact to do so.
Kirk and other school officials have denied the existence of a pact.
Kirk told the Boston Herald she won’t waste her time seeking an apology from Beverly Farms, but added: “It basically triggers a class war between this well-to-do enclave and a working-class city.”
I thought politicians were supposed to have a thick skin? The display also offended the delicate eyes of three parade judges.
“I get it, it’s a Horribles Parade, but it was overkill with the Gloucester pregnancies,” said judge Gail Townsend, who said she won’t be a judge again after being involved with the parade for about 40 years.
Beverly Mayor William Scanlon Jr. refused to get involved because the parade in the Beverly Farms part of town was not a city-sponsored event. “It’s a horrible story,” he said.
I give the Beverly Farms girls who mocked the Gloucester teenagers a lot of credit. Clearly, these girls realize that what the Gloucester teens did was irresponsible and, let’s face it, stupid. They should be applauded. It’s actually a relief that there are some girls that age that can look at what the Gloucester teens did and see it for what it really was.
Just because Beverly Farms is an “affluent area” north of Boston, and Gloucester is a “working-class city” doesn’t excuse a pregnancy pact. Where you live doesn’t change the definition of stupid. Working-class parents still have a responsbility to steer their children in the right direction, impart good morals and decision making.
While their method was unorthodox, the girls in Beverly Farms should be commended for their denunication of the pregnancy pact. I hope the pregnant teens in Gloucester feel ashamed of what they did, and I hope other teens around the Commonwealth think about what these girls did when they have huge life choices in front of them. Let’s also hope that parents start having some talks with their hormone crazed children–from the working-class to affluent.
7 comments July 7th, 2008
From my inbox:
Mainstream Media Misses the Mark in Gloucester
Dear Friends,
Troubling local and national news stories are emerging from the city of Gloucester. It was recently revealed that several Gloucester teenage girls had made a pact to get pregnant and raise their father-less children together. Details are available in the news stories linked to below.
The alarm must be sounded about the public policy issues resulting from the recent news. “Family Planning Advocates” are using these incidents to further push contraceptives on troubled school children without parental consent. We need to raise our voices to counteract this dangerous plan which harms young teens and tramples parents’ rights.
Would condoms and birth control have done anything to prevent this situation? No! The children wanted to become pregnant for lack of knowledge of healthier choices.
What the mainstream media has missed in making this a story about birth control is the deeper need for adults to instill in youngsters the many reasons why it’s important to delay sexual activity until marriage.
What could have persuaded these girls to choose another path? Abstinence education — the kind that was offered free of charge to Massachusetts from the federal government and Governor Patrick refused to accept! The Gloucester girls were never taught to have a positive vision of their future, never encouraged to abstain from sexual activity until marriage, never motivated to consider the importance of raising their child with the loving support of a husband—all taught in abstinence-also education programs that are being pushed out of Massachusetts schools under Deval Patrick.
Click here to help take action!
3 comments June 23rd, 2008
The Associated Press has the story.
School counselors, teachers and families of students the principal said made a pact to get pregnant and have babies together have no information to back the claim, the mayor of Gloucester said Sunday.
Mayor Carolyn Kirk plans to meet Monday with school, health and other local officials after Gloucester High School Principal Joseph Sullivan was quoted by Time magazine saying the girls made such a pact.
The meeting will discuss the alarming rate of teen pregnancy. Seventeen girls in the high school became pregnant this year — four times the usual number. The girls are all 16 or younger, and nearly all of them sophomores.
Kirk told The Associated Press that Sullivan has told officials in this hard-luck New England fishing town that he can’t remember his source of information.
“The high school principal is the one who initially said it, and no one else has said it,” Kirk said. “None of the counselors at the school, none of the teachers who know these children and none of the families have spoken about it.
“So, my position is that it has not been confirmed,” she said.
So then, what’s the explanation?
1 comment June 22nd, 2008
The Massachusetts Republican Party has filed a complaint with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
The Massachusetts Republican Party announced today it has filed a complaint with state officials alleging that a Democratic contender for the state Legislature violated campaign finance laws at a campaign event in Boxborough earlier this month.
The complaint was filed this morning with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, the state body that regulates political fundraising. The one-page letter claims that during an event at Boxborough’s Sargent Memorial Library, Democrat Jennifer Benson encouraged supporters to donate to her campaign, violating a state law that prohibits soliciting donations in a public building.
The complaint, which asks the OCPF to investigate the incident, also alleges that state Rep. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, who hosted the event, also violated the law by urging supporters to donate to Benson’s campaign.
Benson did not return messages today.
While these kind of allegations should be investigated, will the OCPF do anything, really?
3 comments June 16th, 2008
The State House News Service reports the following news.
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 3, 2008…. Democratic state Sen. James Marzilli was arrested in downtown Lowell today on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior, police said.
Marzilli was also charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, attempt to commit a crime, and obstruction of justice, according to police.
Marzilli was accused of sexual assault earlier this year, but Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone did not pursue the case, saying there was insufficient evidence.
Marzilli, an Arlington progressive in his first term in the Senate, tried to resist arrest by fleeing through the city’s downtown, police said.
Kevin Lombard of the Lowell Police Department said Marzilli was arrested on Middle Street in Lowell.
Marzilli was not immediately available for comment late Tuesday.
More details from the Boston Herald:
State Sen. James Marzilli was arrested in Lowell yesterday after he allegedly attempted to sexually assault a stranger sitting on a park bench, gave police a false name and then led officers on a foot chase that ended with in a downtown parking garage, law enforcement officials said.
Marzilli (D-Arlington), absolved of a separate sexual assault accusation last month, now faces a slew of new charges after yesterday’s alleged attack, which police said occurred in broad daylight on a busy street.
The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said Marzilli, 50, approached a woman sitting on a bench along Middle Street, made a lewd comment and then tried to “inappropriately touch her in a sexual manner.”
3 comments June 3rd, 2008
The Boston Globe has this breaking story.
Two D Line trains have collided in Newton between the Waban and Woodland stations, near Dorset Road. TV reports show two twisted cabs derailed on the track, and one person may be pinned beneath a train. Dozens of emergency responders are on the scene, loading some passengers on stretchers. Shuttle service is operating between Riverside and Reservoir.
UPDATE: MBTA’s Alert
1 comment May 28th, 2008
Deval Patrick Watch
