State Gaming Board Picks Finalized

BrocktonPost
BOSTON--Governor Deval Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley and Treasurer Steve Grossman have announced the final two appointments to the newly formed Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
The final two appointees are James F. McHugh, (pictured, top) a retired associate justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court and Bruce Stebbins, (pictured, second from top) business development administrator for the City of Springfield, state officials said in a statement issued Tuesday, March 20.
Both appointees will serve as full time commissioners. Each of the five commissioners on the new gambling board will be paid $125,000 per year.

Officials said the commission will now move forward with its business of hiring staff, establishing an office, hosting public meetings and soliciting bids for up to three commercial casino licenses and one slots facility.
Licenses must be competitively bid and awarded following local approval, under the rules of the Expanded Gaming Act signed by Governor Patrick on November 22, 2011.
Separate from the commission, the Patrick administration has hired a specialized law firm and financial advisor which are currently assisting in negotiating a Native American gaming compact for a casino on tribal lands in Southeastern Massachusetts.
Gov. Patrick appointed Steve Crosby as chair of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on December 13, 2011. In February, Attorney General Coakley selected former New Jersey Lt. Col. Gayle Cameron as her law enforcement appointee to the Commission.
Last week, Treasurer Grossman selected Enrique Zuniga as the Treasurer’s corporate finance and securities appointee.
Officials said in order to ensure the strongest possible commission, Justice McHugh will now serve as the Attorney General’s law enforcement appointee, and Lt. Col. Cameron will now serve as the joint appointee with legal experience related to gaming.
Stebbins will serve as the final joint appointee.
Officials said all costs of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission will be borne by the gaming industry itself and will not be paid for by Massachusetts taxpayers.
Justice McHugh, of Boston, served on the Massachusetts Superior Court from 1985 until 2001, when he was appointed to the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
He served on the Appeals Court until February 2012, when he retired from the bench.
He is a former adjunct faculty member at Boston College Law School and Northeastern University School of Law.
He received a B.A. from Brown University and graduated magna cum laude from Boston University School of Law.
He is a former active duty member of the United States Navy.
During the course of his career, McHugh has presided over more than 600 trials in both civil and criminal matters and authored more than 400 opinions as associate justice.
The scope of these cases has ranged from murder trials to liability lawsuits.
McHugh served for 10 years as chair of the Committee on Judicial Ethics.
Most recently, he drafted 5 reports for a task force created to reform the hiring and promotions process throughout the Massachusetts court system.
McHugh also led an effort to improve the judiciary’s technology which resulted in MassCourts, a more efficient and highly praised case management system.
Stebbins has worked for the City of Springfield since 2010 and served for 2 terms on the Springfield City Council.
He has previously worked at the National Association of Manufacturers and the Massachusetts Office of Business Development.
Stebbins also served in the administration of Governor Bill Weld, and earlier as associate director of political affairs in the White House under President George H.W. Bush.
He received a B.A. from George Washington University and has completed a management program at the Kennedy School of Government.
He lives in Springfield.
(McHugh photo courtesy Mass.gov. Stebbins photo courtesy Facebook)

State Gains $12 Million From Feds For Charter Schools

BrocktonPost
BOSTON--The Patrick-Murray Administration has announced Massachusetts has been awarded a $12 million federal Charter Schools Program grant to expand the number of high-quality charter schools available to students across the state.
The U.S. Dept. of Education grant, announced Thursday, March 15 in a statement, is for a total of $12,125,950 over the next 3 years.
Massachusetts was one of three states out of 14 applicants to receive funding from the $54.8 million competitive award this year, along with New Jersey and Minnesota.
New York and Florida were awarded federal Charter Schools Program grant funding in 2011.
The federal Charter Schools Program aims to increase financial support for the planning, design and implementation of charter schools, to build a better understanding of public charter schools and to increase the number of high-quality public charter schools across the nation.
The Commonwealth’s $12 million grant will be awarded to new charter schools over the next 3 years, with priority given to schools focusing on increasing high school graduation and college enrollment rates among diverse student populations in high poverty areas.
In 2010, Gov. Deval Patrick signed the historic Achievement Gap Act which included a “smart cap” on charter schools across the state, allowing the best performing charters to replicate in the regions with the most student need.
The cap on district net school spending for funding of charter schools will be raised from 9 percent to a maximum of 18 percent through incremental steps.
The cap lift only applies to districts with academic performance in the lowest 10 percent as measured by MCAS, and applicants under the cap lift must have a proven track record of success in increasing academic attainment and commit to working with a diverse population of students.
Sixteen charter schools were approved last year after the cap was raised, and another four were approved last month, bringing the total number of charter schools across the state to 81.
In addition to this $12 million award the state has been awarded $300 million in federal Race to the Top, or RTTT, funding within the past two years.
In August 2010, Massachusetts was awarded $250 million from the U.S. Department of Education, receiving the highest score of any applicant in the national K-12 RTTT competition.
Massachusetts will receive this funding over four years, through academic year 2013-2014, to bolster the administration’s efforts to increase educator effectiveness, turn around under performing schools and provide educators with the tools they need to ensure that all students are prepared for college and career.
In December 2011, Massachusetts was awarded $50 million in the RTTT-–Early Learning Challenge to expand high quality early education services and close achievement gaps in education.
This continued federal support is vital to achieving the administration’s goal of ensuring that every student in Massachusetts is prepared for success in the classroom and beyond.
CLICK HERE to visit the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s website.

Grossman Picks Gaming Comm Member

BrocktonPost
BROCKTON--State Treasurer Steven Grossman announced this morning he has named Enrique A. Zuniga to the newly created Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
Zuniga is currently the executive director of the Massachusetts Water Pollution and Abatement Trust, an agency under the auspices of the treasurer's office.
Issuing the statement, Grossman said he has named Zuniga to the gaming commission because "his substantial background in issues related to finance, securities, public procurement, auditing, and regulatory affairs will be invaluable as the Commission moves forward with the implementation of gaming in Massachusetts.
Zuniga, 45, a Jamaica Plain resident, joins two other named members of the commission.
Under the new gaming legislation signed by Gov. Deval Patrick in November, the governor chooses one member of the commission, as does Grossman and Attorney General Martha Coakley.
Coakley has already chosen former New Jersey State Police Lt. Colonel Gayle Cameron.
Patrick has named Stephen Crosby, a former CEO, secretary of Administration and Finance, and dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass, Boston.
Crosby will be the commission's chairman.
The Commission must be bipartisan, with no more than three members representing the same political party. The full Commission must be appointed by March 21, 2012.
The remaining two members will be appointed by two out of the three appointing authorities.
The Commission must be bipartisan, with no more than three members representing the same political party.
The full Commission must be appointed by March 21. Each board member will be paid $112, 500 a year.

Brockton Legislators Seek Bank Foreclosure Registry Bill

BrocktonPost

BROCKTON--Brockton's state representatives and state senator submitted testimony last Tuesday in support of a bill that would require a bank or other financial company looking to foreclose on a home register itself as the agency seeking foreclosure within 30 days.

State Representatives Michael D. Brady, Christine E. Canavan, Geraldine M. Creedon and State Sen. Thomas P. Kennedy submitted testimony on Tuesday, February 8, 2012 to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on a bill that has been filed by the Brockton Legislative delegation, according to a statement from Brady's office. 
"This is a step in providing homeowners a chance in a market that has been impacted by less than ethical behavior," Brady said in the statement. "It represents a process that has been followed faithfully by local banks and lenders but ignored by the large corporate lending institutions with little regard for property owners,” he said.

In the wake of the housing market collapse, homeowners have had a difficult time determining the ownership of their mortgage when attempting to modify, refinance or restructure an existing loan, short-sell or avoid foreclosure of their home. 
The Massachusetts Registrars of Deeds have reported that almost a quarter of all foreclosed homes were seized by a bank that was not a bank of record at their local registry.

House Bill 3934, states “An act to increase transparency in the Massachusetts land record systems to protect the property rights of homeowners and businesses” would require all mortgage lenders to file notice of any assignment of a mortgage with the County Registry of Deeds with in thirty days of that assignment.

Also providing testimony were Plymouth County Register of Deeds, John R. Buckley, Jr., Esq. and William P. O’Donnell, Norfolk County Register of Deeds.

A similar bill has also been filed in the State Senate by State Sen. John F. Keenan of Quincy who attended the hearing and spoke in support of the legislation.