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I'm Cally Crossley This is the Cali Crossley Show. Today we're hitting the rewind button on this week's news from the great lady's front pages to the stories on the small screen and the reporting that went under the radar. It's a hyper local look at the news that was and wasn't. We'll be dropping in on online communities and alternative presses for a look at the big stories from the small papers where today's neighborhood news becomes tomorrow's mainstream headlines. Well top of the hour venturing from the serious to the sublimely ridiculous with Greg time on tour of the tabloids and a round up of this week's pop culture. Up next on the callee Crossley Show from gumshoe reporting the gossip rags. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying President Obama is hailing

today's jobs report but he told a crowd at a U.P.S. shipping facility in Landover Maryland. There's a lot more work to be done keeping the economy going and making sure jobs are available is the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning is the last thing I think about when I go to bed each night and I will not be satisfied until every American who wants a good job can find one and every American gets a shot of the American dream. That's what we're focused on. The Labor Department's monthly employment report out today reveals the jobless rate had fallen to eight point eight percent in March marking a two year low. The economy added two hundred nineteen thousand jobs as Danielle Karson tells us economists say if the job gains signal businesses are finally primed to star bulking up their workforces a strong employment report was expected and more importantly the gains weren't just a bounce back from weather related job losses. The private sector the backbone of the economy drove the increases. They were pretty much across the board. The hospitality industry manufacturing construction and retail payrolls

all went up. Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Michelle Meyer the labor market looks to be. When you think you know it's gradual. So far but the trend is one of improvement. And that job number from March certainly supports that but not all the news was good. Once again Government Jobs took a hit with state governments struggling with budget deficits. Government employers cut 14000 jobs last month mostly at the local level. For NPR News I'm Daniel Carson in Washington. The company responsible for a damaged power plant in Japan says it may have misstated radiation levels in water near the site. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports this isn't the first time Tokyo Electric Power Company has made a sort of mistake. First TEPCO announced that it had found levels of radioactive iodine in groundwater at the Fukushima Daiichi plant that were 10000 times higher than normal but not long after making the statement company officials said that reading might have been incorrect and would be reviewed. This comes just a few days after TEPCO reported radiation levels in water that turned out to be 100 times

higher than the actual readings at the time a government spokesman reprimanded the company saying such mistakes were unacceptable. Jon Hamilton NPR News Tokyo. An attack on a U.N. compound in northern Afghanistan today has left at least eight foreign employees dead. Reuters News Service quotes an Afghan police spokesman saying that two of the victims were beheaded. Security forces in Mazar e Sharif say protesters outraged by reports that a Florida pastor had burned a copy of the Qur'an storm the complex today. A spokesman for the provinces hundreds of people were staging a peaceful demonstration when the gathering suddenly turned violent. At last check on Wall Street the Dow was up 85 points at twelve thousand four hundred five. This is NPR News. In Yemen the sounds of an uprising that has been raging across the Arab world. Protesters in Sanaa again staged a massive demonstration. Against Yemen's president demanding that he resign immediately. An appellate

court last night blocked new rules from taking effect that would completely change the way mortgage lenders get paid. As Scott Graf of member station in Charlotte reports the ruling represents at least a temporary victory for the mortgage industry. The decision means that the compensation changes set to take effect this morning won't be in place until at least next week. Two mortgage industry trade groups sued to block the rules implementation. They appealed after a judge on Wednesday denied their motion. The changes handed down by the Federal Reserve would make it illegal for a loan officer to make a commission based on a mortgages interest rate. Consumer advocates have argued that during the peak of the housing boom too many borrowers were steered towards bad loans they couldn't afford by greedy lenders who were being paid to jack up interest rates. The changes would see loan officers paid only on the size of a mortgage. But the mortgage industry contends the rules go too far and would actually hurt some home buyers. A hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday. For NPR News I'm Scott

Graf in Charlotte. Manufacturing activity is slowing down a bit after expanding at its fastest clip in nearly seven years. The Institute for Supply management's reading dipped slightly to sixty one point two in March but any reading above 50 indicates growth. The report shows that even though new orders had increased they did so at a slower pace. I'm Lakshmi Singh NPR News in Washington. Support for NPR comes from Lending Tree providing multiple loan offers from a network of lenders. Learn more at Lending Tree dot com or 800 5 5 5 treat. Good afternoon I'm Kalee Crossley. This is the Calla Crossley Show. Today we're hitting the rewind button on the week's news. Joining me today are Paul prone of oh the editor of the Cape Cod Times radio and TV commentator Arnie Arneson joins us from New Hampshire and also on the line is Robert Wood the vice president and editorial page editor of The Providence Journal. Welcome back everyone. You know we

love the snow. OK let me know right. All right all right I think I do a little property damage and insurance fraud. All right moving on from that April Fool's joke Arnie I want to start with you because you had a budget rally there in Concord up at the State House where thousands came out to protest the budget cuts. Well everyone has been focusing on what's been going on in Wisconsin and Michigan and Ohio and Florida and thinking oh my god all these outrageous things are happening. And what they don't know is that the state of New Hampshire makes those guys look like pikers because the budget that was passed the other day which brought out thousands of people is probably a meat axe that no one has seen that has done such devastating things to every single aspect of life in our state. And people were literally out of their minds. It got to the point where there were some firefighters up in the gallery and the speaker actually closed the gallery because they were obviously screaming at the speaker as the budget was being passed.

And what's ironic is this is the same speaker who invites guns and open weapons but he cannot handle the sound of voices but of course there's a form of disturbance there. New Hampshire is going through a very very interesting times. We have overwhelming majorities of Republicans in the House and in the Senate so large that they can do a veto override in both bodies and the speaker of the house is one of the founders of the Tea Party in New Hampshire and he has taken their agenda and he's implementing it and he's using the budget as his document. So we really are hoping at this point that the Senate starts over again but the Senate is fairly conservative if not very conservative. So I'm just telling you right now watch the sparks fly. And if you think that Wisconsin was in meltdown we're going to make them look like a walk in the park. Well let me just add these facts for our listeners 4000 people showed up to protest and they eventually as you said shut them out of the statehouse they were screaming Don't harass the middle class. The budget that was

approved spins seven hundred forty two million dollars less than the state is spending currently in its budget and five hundred nineteen million less than Democratic Governor John Lynch proposed and it was also approved 243 to 124 So this was not a close vote just so everybody. Well I understand but again there are 400 members in the New Hampshire House the Republicans control 300 of the 400 seats. Just to give you an idea of how crazy it is everyone. This is what they do now. They assume they're sheep. And why do I say they assume they're sheep. There is actually a Republican on the floor who takes a red flag or a green flag because we have red buttons or green buttons and this Republican waved a flag to tell the masses how to vote. Well you believe it a lot I'm just telling you I don't get it. They were subtle before but now they actually I kept saying What happens if they're all colorblind. I mean what were they doing were what sectors are not doing well.

Obviously Health and Human Services is being devastated and at one point the chairman of the Finance Committee because one of the tiny little things that's being cut is some sort of assistance to women who are experiencing postpartum depression. And this is what the chair of the Finance Committee said he said something to the effect of Well that's OK if we give them assistance they'll be on it forever. And all they have to do is wait to their baby becomes activated or get out or I mean. This is I'm listening to this and I'm going. Since when did he become a doctor. And this is his answer as he has no excuse for the kinds of things but Health and Human Services is the prime example. They're going to be cutting lots of state employees transportation is going to be experiencing everything and they'll be a lot of shifting down onto the property tax payer. And let me just leave with one more point. New Hampshire is a very parsimonious state. We rank 40 in the nation for the amount of money we spend on services per capita. So we start with one of the wealthiest nation's wealthiest states in the nation with the highest median income. We spend the least on services. And now look where

we're going if there was a fifty eighth place that's probably where we'd end up. I want to just give the correct quote for house finance chair and Ken Wyler. He said that mental health providers this the money that they cut so that mental health providers would not be encouraging people to become patients for life in order to maintain public funding. And he went on to state that postpartum depression would be a woman suffering from postpartum depression would become a patient for life where in reality she would no longer need services after a year. Quote once her baby became more animated. And so you know what I said wrote. Yeah that's like OK I can't I'm trying to remember it. I could because I'm so outraged. And yet this is the nature of what's happening. Actions have consequences. They are not focusing on any of the consequences. Well and something you have say when daughter is boating has consequences too and so that's the result of the majority being voted into the you know they voted in the party's popular the people the

general population seems to be happy as a clam with this right. Well they're popular at the moment but you have to wonder if if the pendulum is going to swing the other way we're already hearing about that in Wisconsin and other places you know New Hampshire has always been a very conservative place already but it's it's not always been this far swung to the right. Do you think that perhaps when the impact of these cuts you know take hold and people see really what happened to their their daily lives I mean this will be jobs these will be programs that you know are life and death thing you know they're Why should I be able to get. Mental health care there oh yeah clean or whatever. Let me just let me hold I wasn't a guys I just want to remind my listeners that we're speaking with Paul Provo editor of the Cape Cod Times. Arnie Arneson radio and TV commentator from New Hampshire and Robert Whitcomb the vice president and editorial page editor of The Providence Journal. Let me let me let me share the problem the dilemma in the state of New Hampshire which is somewhat unique to the other states in the other states when they elected a governor like Walker or Christie or Kay sick or whatever. They knew what the agenda was because it was a statewide election it was a state white referendum a mandate.

We elected a Democratic governor. He may be somewhat tepid but what he said was stay the course. And that's what people thought was going to be the state agenda. What they didn't realize when they elected 400 legislators that earn a hundred dollars a year they represent 3000 people that really don't have to produce a white paper or two whatever. Was that the people they elected in this interesting Republican sweep of the House and Senate. Is that what they were going to do collectively was almost the exact opposite of the governor they elected. And so there's a real disconnect between the sort of quasi referendum of stay the course and then this meat axe approach to the budget. And the concern people have is I think they will be thrown out there's no question. But when you shut down an organization or a nonprofit or you let people go or services disappear it's very easy to shut them down. It's very difficult to reinstate them. That's the old age old men can line the democracy is the system under which the public gets what it wants. Good and hard.

That's exactly right. All right well that's the situation in New Hampshire and the budget at this moment we're going to move on to Cape Cod Paul Provo. There you have a gigantic litter problem. According to one of your pieces. Tell us about that. Yeah this is I guess a bit of a New Hampshire story as well. A couple weeks ago a waste water treatment facility in New Hampshire over washed a bunch of disks. These these are disk that are basically about two inches in diameter and used to help capture bacteria at the sewage treatment plant. They want all these are made out of. Plastic is sometimes right. They are indeed you know that part of the facility that washed into the Merrimack River and of course things that go into the river oftentimes come into the into the ocean and we're starting to see them wash up by the thousands on Cape Cod beaches and they started last weekend in a trickle and now it's really a flood on to the north side beaches. So it's become among other things a real litter problem.

At first there was great concern that it was a bio hazard as well that has proven not to be the case in a large part of though. Health officials are of course saying if you do encounter these put on some gloves before you pick them up and people are doing that and they have to do it because in one town I think they picked up about 10000 over the course of a couple days. So it's pretty remarkable. Well that's 4 million to 8 million of these discs that were released. And also they were designed to capture bacteria in waste waters in the sewage treatment plants which is why the health officials are saying use gloves to pick them up they're not dangerous except you don't want to get the bacteria on your hands. Maybe they'll clean up the water in caves. Yeah. OK. You say OK I just say one thing because as I'm reading your story Paul what I wanted to laugh about was remember that there's a guy that's just written a book called Moby duck The True Story of twenty eight thousand eight hundred Bath Toys Lost at sea and I keep thinking while we can do a version of our own Moby duck you know all this is four million plastic discs.

Well you would think those stories of great great swirls of trash in the middle of the Atlantic to the sea. Exactly we can add to our fun everywhere. It's not exactly one of those trash swirls in the Pacific but I think that's the Gulfstream. They're going to be in England before you know. So I wonder what they'll be thinking about and then hopefully they don't say made in New Hampshire. Now Paul McAuley is the possibility to get it all cleaned up before the summer. I mean that that is kind of an eyesore on the beaches. You know that's the only good news and certainly they'll have a well cleaned up before probably even a little summer which is the phrase I coined for April vacation which is a couple weeks away where people come down and open their cottages and check out their rentals and things like that so the only good news here is that it's happening in March in a time of the year when only crazy locals are here and know of visitors so this was July it would be a much different situation. OK out of the syringes that used and flown up on the beaches and the kids and the aunts member that you know that is just gross.

Yeah well while you're speaking Robert Whitcomb vice president editorial page editor of The Providence a vice president. All right you have one of your contributors wrote a pretty hard hitting commentary with a report commentary about some of the elite educational stars in Boston working to consult with Duffy. That's correct. Michael Porter and Daniel you're going to superstar professors and they're in bed with a cut off a salary to make money and I think this is part of the kind of increasing commercialization and dare I say immoral and higher education. Everything's for sale. And superstar professors like Michael Porter at the Harvard Business School I mean they're just making out like bandits they seem to be willing to do business with anybody. Now what it's dismaying because it's certainly not the you know the ideal mission of higher education.

Can you describe for us where he got this information that he's put in his piece. Well most of it's been in the news so that state of war issues work for the globe You may remember his name he had a column for a long time he's all business writer and business editor and this is this is all not of that spent. This information is out there about Michael Porter's business ties with the Libyans. So it's it's what they did was century just kind of put it together in a column and ruminate on it. So you know I wonder if in the new economy that we've described here I think that they don't want to foster given the most precise code yet that the new Libyan economy. Now I just think you know it's just a very commercial age people kind of you know. You know $5 and I took her to become $500 a minute hookers you know in academia and it just is just a smattering of the idea of academia as a place to the search of truth that's become a big business including It's the most elite places in the world like Harvard.

There's an incredible article I just want everyone to know that as I'm reading this all they kept running through my head was Charles Ferguson's inside job. Yeah and I have to tell you you know my God this is inside job Libyan style and I couldn't stop I was literally reading sections of it outloud to my husband. And then I came up with the expression that this whole thing is about if you lie down with dogs you'll get up with fleas. And that's exactly what happened to Michael Porter. Absolutely but prepared to pay the price for a trip to paradise you know. And when I say when I read a new five I was thinking of Joe Kennedy of course the former Congressman Eric Massa Luly relationship with Chavez. Now obviously different in a lot of ways people have different perspectives and Kennedy has not backed away from his relationship people leave. It's been very beneficial to folks via citizen oil and being able to get people heating oil that they wouldn't otherwise have. On the other hand some folks have felt that that really camped down his chances

to run for the Senate seat now held by Scott Brown. So yeah no I think I think you're right Paul that and whatever it is 600 grand he's taking as CEO of a nonprofit right. All right well we're going to leave it right there before we go into total Nobody's perfect. Yeah we've got much more to talk about. I'm Gallic Crossley relook at regional news with Paul Provo from Cape Cod. Arnie Arnesen joining us from New Hampshire. And Robert Whitcomb representing Rhode Island. We'll be back after this break stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you. And from Elsa Dorfman Cambridge portrait photographer. Still clicking with the jumbo format Polaroid 20 by 24 analog camera and original Polaroid film. Online at Elsa Dorfman dot com. That's Elsa Dorfman dot com and from safety insurance working with independent agents in

Massachusetts and New Hampshire to provide coverage for homes autos and business. And supporting the world weekdays at 3:00 and 6:00 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. Season Four of Mad Men has just come out on DVD. But Season 5 has been pushed back to 2012 on the next FRESH AIR we listen back to our interview with Jon Hamm the star of the series and David Mitchell talks about his bestselling novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob the zoot which has just been published in paperback. Join us for the next FRESH AIR. This afternoon at two on eighty nine point seven heavy GBH. WGBH dot org is your source for NPR News. Local music had a chance to win a trip to Washington D.C. aboard Amtrak's the sell express prize includes for round trip business class tickets accommodations at the Intercontinental Willard Hotel a private dosa tour of the National Air and Space Museum where

admission is always free and a Washington gift package courtesy of from travel guides. Details online at WGBH dot. We're running out of oxygen. I have so many people that I can treat the world and it's not an easy decision for anyone to make. Coming up at 3 o'clock on an eighty nine point seven WGBH Boston NPR station for news and culture. I'm Kelly Crossley This is the Calla Crossley Show. If you're just tuning in we're looking at the week's news the hyper local news regionally. Joining me to talk between the headlines are Paul Provo the editor of the Cape Cod Times the wise woman from the land of Live Free or Die radio and TV commentator Arnie Arnesen. Also with us is Robert Whitcomb an outstanding vice president and editorial page editor. The Providence Journal. I just want to put a button on that discussion we were having before about your commentator and the piece

that he did for you. Robert would come and let me just ask what kind of response did you get from readers about this. You know much like good question Kelly I haven't checked yet. OK I just got off the plane from Cannes you know on Tuesday you know it's some kind of catching up with stuff and I want to put this on the table and that is that a lot you know. All right I'm very interested in that e-mail a couple of things for some superstar professors like Michael Porter and some of the others mentioned in the piece they almost have two jobs. They do teach at the universities by which they are affiliated but they also have a separate kind of consulting gig you often with many other employees. Right. Which is which is separate from the universities so you know we should say put that on the table so that that it's out of that consulting eye which he would have the interaction with understands correctly Lowther paid big salaries. Yes of course it gets a huge rate DHB Yes but well I'm not arguing that I'm just saying I'm a player.

Well thank you. Sadly Arnie back to you. Aside from the budget passing yesterday there was something else also cleared the House which is very similar to what's going on in Wisconsin and that is that is this at will measure which effectively dissolves collective bargaining. What's good what's going on there. So when he leaves for a New England state. Well you have to believe it for a New England state and what's happening here is again in some ways this is even worse than the collective bargaining story that you heard coming out of Wisconsin. Remember in Wisconsin Governor Walker divided the public employees up. He said to the firefighters and the State Police you can still keep your collective bargaining. I'm just going to shaft everybody else. All right so that was the postal workers are sick of the social workers right and the Health and Human Services people. These boys however were not as sophisticated. They took every single public sector worker and said to them if you do not reach some kind of an agreement in the timeframe of the contract then as soon as you go beyond

the time frame of the contract you will be an employee at will which means there is no contract. There is no protection. They can set whatever they want for the purposes of wages and what they basically have done is destroyed collective bargaining because no employer is going to want to come to the table if they know if they wait one day after the contract expires that basically they can fire people at will they can put them at any salary they want. What motivates an employer to come to a resolution. If you don't report by the way already I'm sure everything will be challenged in court. But at this point in time this tells you the mentality about what's going on is that the employer is in the driver's seat and the employee is basically nothing more than a servant and it's really really frightening and I think when when the state troopers and the police and the firefighters saw this there was a level of outrage in New Hampshire that you really even haven't seen in Wisconsin because they were a little bit smarter. But in New Hampshire they were maybe they created a level playing

field but that was the worst thing they could have done. Because now the damage has gone everywhere. I will say according to the Concord monitor's piece that it is. The ruling is subject to public hearings and studies by committees and subcommittees I don't know if that slows anything down or or makes people revisit it in any kind of serious way but but that is a part of it. And that's because it was tacked on to the budget bill according to the conic Concord Monitor and the problem is is that they can say all that which sounds like sort of a man Yana technique. But when you see for the most part the Republicans moving in lockstep even if it goes to 12 committees the result will be the same in the house. Oh it's all right all this right is pretty basically the governor's move because they have such huge majorities that they can override. Right now again I'm going to go back to the Senate which is still incredibly conservative. But if these guys are Neanderthals they're starting to stand upright in the Senate. All right. OK well we're moving away from New Hampshire for the moment.

Robert I want you to take up the take of the mike at this point. I am interested in Governor Chafee saying that he is going to fix the DMV. This is something that we in Massachusetts but if you look at all the time the service was terrible for you know five or 10 years they bring in a new manager they clean it up they sort of streamline it falls apart and everybody goes over to Triple-A instead. And I'll tell you it's such a hot issue around here as much as a lot of people hate Chafee's tax proposals which is to widen a sales tax if he could fix the D and C he could be reelected. This is. Highly emotional subject right now the DMV it's sort of makes you long for the kind of these services found in Paraguay or something. It is terrible. And he's he said it's like sending a man to the moon. He's getting a little carried away. Sort of comparing this to you know Kennedy's pledge to Congress you know put a man in the mode by the end of the

decade and you know he's got a lot of emotion behind this because this is a service that virtually every citizen has to use and I can remember from my days working in Boston you know 40 years ago all the complaints about the registry and I wish I was straight I mean a lot of these complaints are every state. And what you find like Massachusetts is they kind of cleaned it up for a while. They cleaned it up for a while here 20 years ago then it got worse again. Well every state's got the story I think Rhode Island Roda registry is particularly bad but I'll tell you waiting in line back during the Frank Sargent administration it was pretty bad in Boston. Well one of the things that we know here in Boston is that you know they had to cut because of budget concerns sure staff and all of that so if you have more staff it's definitely going to work you know the more staff the less time sure they ought to hire more people. But but but what I'm taking with with your piece is that there is a computer system that apparently has not been stoic.

Oh my god I don't know when they got the damn thing like two years ago or something they still haven't installed it I mean maybe it's time to buy some mimeograph machine. This is this is unbelievable it was four years ago it's 11 million dollars and I just want someone to know if they tried to pull this off in the private sector. Whatever company they have would have been fired I would have I would have been thrown out the window. Exactly exactly I don't think you can accept being this you are not I don't get it. The automation did make a difference to match that you didn't come out in a lot of credit he did a good job I think Paul you know he had it he had his flaws his will but he did a hell of a good job and you did it fast service routine about 3 months. Customer service focus ought to be heard to see get people out of the registry office and into their homes where they get on their computers do so many functions and that way they didn't have to set an alarm. The fewer people you know when you have fewer staff the ratio works out pretty well as Kelly said. We're back to some relatively longer lines and unfortunately offices have closed

some very dirty or stuff like that you know the old it didn't work not sending you your reminder about your license renewal so guess what. Any number of people who let their licenses lapse because they don't look at the not when they're going to ration is they used the reminder but you just go blithering you know blindly I have a couple of drinks and go over drive well. I would like to make a suggestion there's plenty of geeks. Hire some to put in the computer. I don't I don't understand is I mean it's not the Institute for Advanced Study you know. All right they could do it. It's an act of will. All right. OK well there you have it. Well let me go down to the Cape Cod where this piece kind of puts a little fear in my heart. Well I don't know who she's been caught yet but she alleges to have defrauded many people from giving to charities these were very personal situations I want to allow you to explain it.

But this is the kind of thing that makes those of us who want to give to charities and what we think are charities very nervous. Yeah this is the sort of thing that gives charitable giving a bad name but it does make us think twice because it seemed like such a legitimate charity. This organization called Touched By An Angel and it was run by a woman by the name of Gina Clark. And she would go and find folks who are having terrible stories tragedies whether someone family had lost a loved one or someone was going through cancer treatments here jerkers stores real tear jerker stories and she would ingratiate herself to these folks. Become Friends and in one case she went to the family of a 16 year old who was killed in a minute she was crossing the road and she was hit by a car and killed and she went to the family and told them that she was on the scene before the girl had died and that she actually held her in her arms and really you know emotional stuff and promised to help make some money for these folks and there are a lot of these families are middle class they dont qualify for

benefits necessarily but they need help in some form. So she said I'll run fundraisers for you I will. I will make it rain and get you money so at least that's one thing. You don't have to worry about and in the name of these families and in the names of these folks who had passed away she would run fundraisers that would bring in thousands of dollars. And according to the attorney general's office in some cases she turned around and only pay as little as 50 or $200 in out to the families claiming that the expenses were simply too high. I mean these are the same as administratively expenses. Yeah exactly right. Well so much money and of course some chair we do know that some charities get upside down in the expenses are too high. But in the case of Gina Clark according to the Barnstable County grand jury at least it was more than that. It was basic fraud. And she's faces now 15 counts of embezzlement a series of labor law violation and and other things. So really a scary cautionary tale for all of us. You need to check out the charity closely and in the

beginning at least this seemed legitimate. It was running for three years before complaints reached the level of the attorney general's office and they lifted the license was a standard I want to see three charity ball you know standard you know exactly right. They finally archery you know. But this is also a teachable moment and I tell you why because it does encourage people if you think that you're being ripped off or that someone is abusing you you must you must contact the attorney general's office or contact the Consumer Protection Division because you need to establish the pattern and practice. And the sooner you do it the more quickly the attorney general will respond. Because once you see what I read in your story was that her complaint that the woman in particular whose daughter was killed in this accident and Miss Clark responded to her she made her first complaint in 2008. They did not pull her nonprofit license till 2010. So what this tells me is that not enough people who are harmed by her moved forward in a quick enough fashion. So the A.G. could say Wait a minute this smells. Something's wrong here. This is just a mistake. This

is someone who's ripping people off but you still believe it encourages folks I don't know what to do. Well now let's also I. I was going to tell people that I don't want to do. I knew I was going to say that also she was very clever. Assuming she did this and going in at the most emotional time you know as the mother said the last thing I'm thinking about is you know what's have my daughter's just been killed so I can't even think clearly. And you know when you're vulnerable you want to collapse into anyone's arms who says they're going to help you. I'm totally sympathetic to that. But what I want to remind people is if you think there's a problem or you eventually smell a problem please please call the AGs office established the pattern because the sooner they begin to see the problem the sooner they'll be able to respond. That's all I know all the police do. Well that's exactly I will say that there is some circumstantial evidence that's in this piece that does make one raise an eyebrow. It says the woman in question the alleged fraud or lives in the home she bought with her husband for seven hundred and ten thousand

dollars and the Cadillac Escalade was in the driveway. So and here a long time to explain those details away by saying she inherited money and things like that. But you know what to keep a small place and these stories started to trickle out an online site called Cape Cod today wrote a lot about this more and more victims came forward and the attorney general turned her attention toward this and. It looks like action is finally happening. Dorri good story Robert Whitcomb very quickly the numbers of Latino youth growing exponentially in Rhode Island. But the other young people dropping Oh yes young people dropping out still a lot of Latinos are moving in especially of course the inner cities but the suburbs which is interesting some of them are illegal some of them not. So what we have is a more Hispanic but except in a few places like poorer cities like Central Falls an older population fewer young people more Hispanics a lot of young Hispanics and a couple of the cities. And this definitely

has implications for you know education for gauche or you know public especially public education social services. Manik the point here though Robert and that is even though the numbers of young people are dropping because you see this rise in Hispanic population a population that require bilingual support even though you have fewer children you actually need to spend more money. Absolutely. You don't tackle it exactly right Sally Mrs.. Absolutely absolutely that's going to be a hard sell that's going to be a hard sell but really fewer pupils. But what they don't understand is if you don't invest in these young people who have greater needs you can have a lot more problems on your hand when you really think crime and all that so exactly that's right. So very good point. We have to conclude with say Aprils food. Full story in the Cape Cod Times the Cape canal will be drained today so your paper or one of your comments in our paper says Paul Bravo is that right. For the record we debunked this rumor that appeared in another

newspaper. Very interesting around here. A bird columnist who's been writing an April Fool's spoof for about 10 years mentioned that the Cape Cod Canal was going to be drained for a quote unquote dry inspection some sort of elaborate science of how this was going to happen and we started to get calls about it yesterday. People actually want to know when to go down and you know because they watch those that I took all the money I believed it Paula many people believed it. Oh well I mean the Army Corps of Engineers received a number of calls the police department down in the towns of born families got called the Army Corps of Engineers was not laughing because of trouble with traffic problems related construction. So they don't want to cause any more problems with the joke. All right that's pretty good as these things. Yeah I mean I it's very cleverly worded. I have to say. So good for him. And this is Michael Connor by the way.

Michael Connor he's a bird columnist for the Brewster general store and you know when we have to vote he said look I've been doing these jokes for 10 years. You know last year I talked about two rare birds being released on the outer Cape and we thought well that's one thing. But the talk of the canal being drained of course is an entirely different matter I almost wish it were true. OK that would be a great photo op certainly. OK well for those who want to read Mike's column original column he writes the column Ask the bird folks so he pulled the joke on all of us. Hey it's been great talking to all three of you. We've been talking regional news news with Paul Brown avow editor of the Cape Cod Times radio and TV commentator Arnie Arneson in New Hampshire and Robert Whitcomb a vice president and editorial page editor of The Providence Journal. Thanks very much. Happy weekend OK. Coming up we're taking a turn from the serious to the sublimely ridiculous with a tour of this week's tabloids. We'll be back after this break. Stay tuned. Eighty nine point seven.

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CBC Radio NPR up tomorrow to you 9.7. It's rag time. A view of the week's coverage in tabloids. It's an examination of the salacious the ridiculous and everything in between. But this being public radio we'll conduct our review with the help of some high brow analysts. Our pointy head of pop culture Thomas Connelly a professor in the Department of English at Suffolk University and Rachel Ruben the chair of the department of American studies at UMass Boston. Welcome you to. What do we have some good stuff this week you know you can't make this stuff up. That's where you are. So the blog a sphere and all the networks and cable have been burning up with this great video from New Zealand of all places. And I got to give our listeners a chance to hear it. This is exercise guru Richard Simmons and he's been hired by Air New Zealand to make those instructions that we all have to hear

when we fly. Way more entertaining. Here's Richard Simmons. That's. Why everybody in the next three minutes we're going to work hard. Workout. And get you. To comply. Let's. Go out. In the first place. Stretch it out. And lose that baggage. Stretch it out to the overhead locker. Or slide it under the seat in front of you. Spread it. You. Know with. The. Exercise guru Richard Simmons and his disco themed air safety video he filmed for New Zealand air. What do you think. I asked when I watched it I thought of those pop up ads with the bizarre photographs of strange looking people which market research shows actually catches your eye faster than you know something more normal or attractive. But you know he's 60 years old he's still at it. And of course the funniest thing is that at the end there's a man scowling saying I'm on a plane with a bunch of crazies who apparently

have some big time New Zealand morning television host. And Richard Simmons plants a kiss on him it is not only visual it's audible. And it really I've never seen Richard Simmons poke fun at you know some of the questions people have raised about his sexuality before. And also he really seems to be having a good time which sometimes you know the oldies you know that unforgettable series. He seemed like he was straining or you know not having fun but this really seems enjoyable and as someone who's sat through those instructional videos and stopped paying attention to them years ago I have to say I think this is really a good service because you can't take your eyes off of it. What do you think Rachel. Well I mean. I think that obviously people at 60 can be as active as they want to. But the thing is if you're not sitting on an airplane watching this and none of us is it's not a safety video it's advertising. And you know on Air New Zealand is famous for this. I mean this this one is particularly

you know campy and funny and Richard Simmons I get I always think you sort of poking fun. But it's it's one in a long chain they're extremely good at making up these kinds of videos. Getting them out there. Now we all think it's a viral video that we somehow got to see before it got on the plane when that's that's its purpose. Right. This was a particularly you know good piece of advertising. Many of us have fallen for it. I have a few. You know we all do. But you know but we have to remember that what advertising is looks different you know than it used to. Right. So when you were saying like yes if we were on the plane watching it the context would have you know would give it an entirely different meaning. So it's a good piece of advertising. It's completely in keeping with Air New Zealand's tradition of advertising. I think they did the smart thing by picking him because he is just likable to most people I mean there are people who can't stand him of course but it's really hard not to be charmed

because he's very sincere in his things so you're not sharp it's very funny you know. Anyway I think a lot of people are looking at it unless you're a frequent flyer in which case it might get old quickly. Sorry about that. Meanwhile I mean how can you have a ragtime that has Richard Simmons in it and a former governor but we do. Former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger made a big splash this week announcing he's going back into the business for which he is most famous that being show business and also he'll be returning in a way in returning in that way. He reminds us of one of his most famous films and the most famous lines from his film solicitor. So here it is. I'll be back. There is a former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. And he said he'd be back and he's back and he is. That's from the 1991 movie Terminator 2 Judgment Day but this time he's coming back in comic book form Rachel. I think you know one could very easily say Hasn't he always been in comic book form to some degree. You know if it is kind of a puzzle and we should say that the

person who is creating his comic book character the Governator is the very great Stan Lee who completely revolutionized the comic book industry. He said he's you know with Marvel Comics and also has done more I think to combat censorship in comics than just about anybody. So you know he's a man of great great achievement. That said people have been trying to figure out Stanley's politics since you know the 19th you know since the 1950s at least. And he's been accused of crypto fascism and he's been accused of leftism. And it's you know what he what it seems to me very plain is that he's an opportunist. I mean he's a genius and I don't even mean that in a bad way but he's an opportunist. So he sees some something here a chance here. I personally don't think it'll last you know or people won't exactly understand why it's different from the various comic treatments of Schwarzenegger that people have done in a smore satirical way.

But see Tom the series is called the governator and he says Well Stanley says we'll be using all the personal elements of Arnold's life that I think I don't I don't. I have to say my production is this of every Ruzicka said Well who is the enemy is the legislature I mean what's going on here. Well I'm sure they'll find plenty and knowing you know and I guess politics I'm sure it'll be you know he'll be fighting the war on terror. But this is interesting. At the same time that he announced this he also says he's going to go into movies but he's going to recognize the march of time and he's not going to be playing the same sort of superhuman characters he was playing before he wants to become like Clint Eastwood and change his persona. But the Governator will be timeless. So he's really he's really going to have it both ways if this goes anywhere. I think it all depends on whether people think that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a brand that is classic I guess. However you know no seriously because it was all a shock and how how is this I mean there really is there is a difference between the Terminator and the governor a governor and the Terminator is

iconic but once you have the governator and he's really living in Brentwood and really you know going to the governor's mansion that politicizes it in a way that is going to prevent it becoming from I think a mask consumer entertainment item. Well it will be interesting to see. All right so I'm going to play some music in just a few minutes listeners and rabid fans you will recognize this song this theme song. Let's see if you catch it. You don't know you're under a rock that's madman it's AMCs very highly rated show. It has been produced by Matthew Weiner and the series has won 13 Emmys and a Golden Globes and sadly it will not be on the air again until 2012 because of disputes between Matthew Weiner and AMC. Breaking news they've settled on a deal so it'll be back but it would still not be back until 2012 and

part of the issues were that the AMC wanted to cut out back to advertising. Some of the show to add more advertising. And he fought that. So now that I guess all of the episodes will be 45 minutes with the exception of the first one the last one which will be 47. So that's the compromise. And he gets to keep the entire cast which I guess was some you know bit of discussion but anyway. And something about the video the DVD issue self it will be a tiny bit longer than the ones on the when it right yes that's right so that people can have it what do you what he was also he was being pressed to have much more aggressive product placement this woman is already there but this apparently was going to be really intrusive. Well the Facebook campaign Save Mad Men from the ad men. The irony here just is of Mount Rushmore proportions. I actually that's that's the opposite of irony. It's poetic justice it's fitting but not it's not irony but I'm not but I'm saying about what you know what Don Draper say.

And I just remember if you were at the at the table you know you'd say you know you probably use a four letter word for what should be done to the producer because that's one of the things the show is about. You know Draper and his colleagues complete disregard for any sort of morality ethics anything that has anything to do with selling the product. They couldn't care less I mean with racial prejudice and they just say that's not our business. So the creator you know taking the moral high ground here is troubling I'm a great fan of the show but I can't help but imagine what would be going on at Sterling Cooper if they were confronted with this. I don't watch it because I don't have no desire to take my black self back to the 50s. So there you have it here. Yeah I'm totally over you. That is you know actually a very important point which you know is is sort of we need to fold into this question about irony is that if the show you know definitely seems to be intending to comment on those things right we're not supposed to like those

attitudes. At the same time you know people viewing it what those people who are having mad band parties and dressing in the clothes and mixing the martinis and whatnot are kind of showing themselves to be attracted to that time in a way. Right that isn't the sort of biting bitter sense that you might say is the authorial intent. So you know it's definitely a sort of message in popular culture usually is but it's definitely a sort of a messy situation. It is bizarre the fact that people are reacting to this positively when the show itself is is a grim depiction in fact as it progresses you see more and more the results of alcoholism and the ostrich. I hear it's very also not very well written and all that. And there is there is a lot of social criticism but at large you get the impression of you know Don Draper you know quote unquote lady killer. You know my perfect mixed martini and so forth. But the show is not like that at all. It's very it's darker and darker.

Well this is Hollywood and we know that Hollywood there are no new ideas and so we would not be surprised to learn that there are many versions of Peter Pan coming again. In case you've forgotten here's the famous song from Peter Pan. I will. Well I hope. I don't want to go I don't want to go go down. So there we are five versions right through my version of this and that's something I've been thinking about this on and off for a while now. Because when there are five versions of something coming at the same time when our culture is sort of obsessively circling around the same thing you know you want to think well why. What is it about this story that is so necessary right now. You know to segments of American culture. And so definitely the first place my mind went was are what. What is this you know tale of not wanting to grow up mean. But they also there is the other possibility which is you know where Peter Pan lives and Neverland and the darling children go right. It's like it depends on how you look at it but they fight sort of the

darker other evil other which has sprung from the colonial fantasy. And so critics you know are not in agreement on whether the author Barry was trying to comment on that and show it for what it was or whether he was saying like look this is the way it should be you know British colonialism in the Victorian era you know is this this kind of ideal. So that's why. That kind of thinking like you know Americans making five movies about going someplace and sort of righteously fighting off a savage you know brown other title it's Captain Hook is the father. And also it's this freedom from responsibility I think right now with the recession the housing crisis and pensions disappearing all those sorts of things that are sort of the norms of adulthood are blowing up in our faces and all of us want to find a place where dreams are made and time is never planned. And I think that's I want to go back. Yeah you don't want to go to that. No not that one but I just you know you get my point I don't think it works out so

yeah that's true. OK well I was most distressed to learn this week with many other fans of Wonder Woman that they're messing with her they're bringing Wonder Woman back. Speaking of bringing back iconic figures but they just don't know how to clothe her. This 21st century huzzy costume is too much. Let me listeners let's return to the days of the Linda Carter sitcom and listen to that music. OK so it's the second time it's there and question you know how people say that when Lynda Carter had the outfit. You know it was reasonably reasonable looking it was a little a little risque but not nothing like the costume that they have outfitted this new actress and it was disgusting it was

slutty. There was a lot of outcry on the web and cell they toned it down a bit. But it's you know it's still in the air. Linda Harden wasn't even wearing pants and let's not say disgusting in the slutty together like that that was what. That says that he came and said that's just because you look like a comic book. Yeah I think a lot of people are upset that they're fiddling with the original comic book I can write if anybody has looked at the original comic book knows that her costume has changed several times starts out in a skirt goes into the swimsuit type thing and she has pants now in the comic book so it is quite possible to say that the new costume is in keeping with the direction the comic book is welcome to see it where you know she's about to fall out of the top is just too much. I love this piece by Linda Holmes which I found on NPR she says I'm all for you being gorgeous I'm all for your embracing your right to be a sex bomb and a crime fighter at the same time but that doesn't mean a strapless corset made of plastic. Not only can you not use your lasso in that outfit you can't raise your arm to hail a taxi.

I mean. And if he has an invisible plane she doesn't need a taxi. But the video clips that they're showing it to also she's decidedly not an Amazon I mean this is a very human Wonder Woman and I think that's something else that people at least who are on the video blog are complaining about. Well I don't mind her having being human and then going off on the invisible plane and doing all that. But I do not want her to fall out of that corset. I really doubt it. Sorry but I have to admit that there are probably a lot of viewers who hope she does. I'm sure that's true. Well we have to keep these issues before the public and I thank you too for helping me do that. For another edition of ragtime Professor Rachel Reuben and her face Professor Thomas Connelly. You can keep on top of the Kelly Crossley Show at WGBH dot org slash Calla Crossley follow us on Twitter or friend the Calla Crossley Show on Facebook. Today Show was interviewed by Antonio Ali art and produced by Chelsea Mertz will Rose live and Abbey Ruzicka where production of WGBH radio Boston NPR station for news and

culture.