Massachusetts's Cape Cod Times (3/14, Cassidy) reports that "Cape Wind Associates president Jim Gordon...refrained from commenting at a public hearing on his proposal to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound," until Thursday night.  He told an audience at the University of Massachusetts's Boston campus that he has "intently listened to the heartfelt and passionate comments from both supporters and opponents."  The Times added, "Gordon was not alone in taking a final opportunity to speak directly to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, the lead federal agency reviewing the Cape Wind proposal."  According to the Times, "Many of the arguments raised during the hearing were familiar to longtime Cape Wind watchers."  Supporters of the project called it "an opportunity to stem the tide of global warming," while "[o]pponents -- most hailing from the Cape and Islands -- cited concern over safety and fishing in Nantucket Sound."  The hearing was "one of four held this week to give the public an opportunity to comment on a draft environmental impact statement on the project released by the Minerals Management Service in January."

In continuing coverage from previous briefings, the Boston Globe (3/9, Viser) reported that more municipal officials are using blogs "to target younger constituents and promote civic engagement in a virtual forum," although the Globe concluded the "posts are...kind of boring," because they are not typical of "the type of saucy language that blogs typically thrive upon." The report chronicles the list of Massachusetts officials who are blogging about everything from "roof inspections, police details, and city council meetings," to "budget proposals, and a sewer infrastructure agreement." Mayors who are blogging include those in Haverhill, Methuen, and Somerville. Lowell's city manager, Bernie Lynch, also is blogging. Mayor Joe Curtatone (D) of Somerville told the Globe that "blogging is this uncharted territory. You put yourself out there in real time, and you get responses in real time." He is among the officials who are learning about blog responses from readers. He said, "You may talk about how great it was to work at the Special Olympics," only to have a citizen respond, "That's great, Mr. Mayor, but what about my pothole?"

Massachusetts's MetroWest Daily News (2/29, Breitrose) reports that Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School administrators denied "holding money back from member towns," accusations that were made in a report (pdf) released by the state Inspector General's (IG) office this week."  According to school officials, the "inspectors lacked the required knowledge of regional school accounting to make such accusations."  Patrick Collins, Assabet business manager, pointed out that the "school provides accounting records to the Department of Revenue annually," and "has never been accused of wrongdoing."  While the IG's office alleges "Assabet had $8.9 million in 12 accounts on June 30, 2006,"  Assabet "detailed how the school had only $509,422 in the excess and deficiency fund."  Collins added, "Like every other organization, we have to have money on hand to pay teachers and vendors."  Collins asked, "Why didn't they account for that?"

USA Today (2/4, Cauchon) reports on its website that its own analysis of federal data shows "state and local government workers are enjoying major gains in compensation, pushing the value of their average wages and benefits far ahead of private workers." Also, it notes that "the gap is widening every year," increasing by $1.02 an hour on average last year, and "$2.45 an hour over the past three years." Compared to those wages, "private-sector workers face stagnant wages and rising unemployment." While "state and local government workers now earn an average of $39.50 per hour in total compensation," data show that "[p]rivate workers earn an average of $26.09 an hour." USA Today notes that benefits play a large role in the difference. While private industry has "trimmed pension benefits and asked employees to pay a greater share of medical costs," USA Today finds that "[f]ew governments have imposed similar cuts on teachers, snowplow drivers, lawyers, and other civil servants." Overall, it points out, public employees have earned 16 percent more inflation-adjusted compensation from 2000 to 20007, compared to 11 percent for "private workers."

The Wall Street Journal (10/11, D1, Chaker, subscription required) reports that the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, signed recently by President Bush, "creates an important incentive...to enter fields of public service by offering to forgive what could amount to tens of thousands of dollars of school debt." The law "broadly defines public service" as a number of jobs, "such as public health, public education, working for a nonprofit organization, and serving in law enforcement or as a public-interest lawyer." The "Public Service Loan Forgiveness program" will forgive "the balance of a student loan...after 120 monthly payments, equal to 10 years." It includes a program called Income Based Repayment, which can extend terms of repayment. To qualify, "loans must come under the federal Direct Loan program." People who borrowed from other places can consolidate their loans through that program. The Journal noted that loan amounts that are forgiven are taxable income.

Pennsylvania's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (2/12, Schackner) reports, "Millions of Americans struggling with ever-rising college costs should get some relief this year from" the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, "a law touted by its creators as the biggest single infusion of financial aid since the GI Bill." The bill, "a $20-billion package that includes grant increases and loan rate reductions, was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in September." According to the Post-Gazette, the legislation will "rein in spiraling student debt...to encourage young Americans, who now shy away from lower-paying public service fields, to rethink their career plans." It will offer loan forgiveness "after 10 years of work in public service jobs, such as military service, emergency management, public health, law enforcement," and teaching. It will also increase "the maximum award for the need-based Pell Grant, funded at $4,241 for 2008-2009," by "$1,090 the next five years to a maximum of $5,331 by 2012."