Hi everyone,
Well, the weather is on the upswing here in Massachusetts… in the 80’s today, and in the 90’s tomorrow. Wowzers!
Our first story comes from Beverly, Mass (where I took the MTELs last weekend). The city disposes 
their trash at Wheelabrator, but a doubling in price (from $36 to $75 per ton) at the trash incinerator in the last few years has caused Beverly to implement a recycling program which recently implemented a recycling program… and from a financial standpoint, has been tremendously successful.
“”””””””””””””””””On March 1, the city began requiring that cardboard be recycled and said that it would not pick up cardboard that was not set aside, flattened and either bagged or bundled with other recyclable material.Since the ban went into effect March 1 trash collections have been reduced 17 percent, according to statistics provided by city officials — and down 13 percent since January. The reduced has saved almost $44,000 in trash-disposal fees thus far this year, when compared to last year. But from the buck-a-bin program, where recycling bins were sold by the city for a dollar, to a requirement that all cardboard be recycled, an effort to increase recycling may start to be showing, said Peter Seamans, who works in the city’s engineering department and is in charge of trash collection.Beginning last March, Mayor Bill Scanlon began pushing increased recycling as part of a proposal to continue the $100 per year trash fee for residences and $300 for businesses. He said the fee would remain the same for two years but that the city needed to recycle more in order to control trash- disposal costs.The cost to collect the trash remains the same — JRM was selected in April by Scanlon to continue to collect the city’s trash and recycling and will be paid $6.4 million for five years.But the amount of trash collected results in a variable bill at Wheelabrator, where the city pays per ton of trash.The reduction in collected trash cut the total bill by $43,820 versus the same time last year.But since February, the savings have average about $15,000 per month versus 2006. Extrapolated over a year, that would mean $180,000 in yearly savings — or 40 percent of the total predicted possible savings from increased recycling.City officials can’t say for sure whether the decrease is an anomaly or instead is connected to an increased push to recycle or forced cardboard recycling. .“It’s still early to call it a victory, but it’s trending in the right direction,” said Seamans.
By Bobby Gates of the Beverly Citizen 2007-05-16
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
Next up, everyone at work has been talking about the American Idol season finale. Who will win… Blake or Jordin? I’ve actually only seen one episode ever, and that was just a few weeks ago. But for all Idol fans, here is some Idol-Massachusetts news: Last year’s Idol contestant Aylah Brown of Wrentham, who just finished her freshman year at Boston College, offers here opinions here:
“”””””””””””””AB: I’m leaning more toward (Jordin) just based on popularity. Based on people I’ve talked to who watch the show, everyone just seems to say Jordin…She’s so young and “American Idol” hasn’t had a young winner yet, so I think she has a really good shot at being successful.””””””””””””””””””””
Ayla reveals her ‘Idol’ predictions
And the Cult of the Idol reaches western Mass, where music professors and voice coaches Judith Gray of Smith College, Kerry Ryer-Parke of Williams College, and Sherri James Buxton of the Berkshire Music School weigh on on how the show has affected the art of singing.
“””””””””””””””But beyond all the Hollywood hype of the show, Buxton said there’s some legitimacy to it. She credits it with fueling a renewed interest in singing.“We have definitely seen a big growth in the number of people taking voice lessons since the show began,” Buxton said. “Older people have jumped on, too, wanting to learn how to sing and sing betterShe said her students use the show as a learning tool for what to do and what not to do. “It has validated me, in some ways,” she said. “My students come to me after watching and say, ‘I guess what you were teaching me was right.’ They know what to listen for, and they learn from watching bad entertainers.”When you sing, you need to find your honesty,” she said. “You may have a wonderful voice, but if you don’t know what you’re singing, if you don’t feel the lyrics, it will show.”””””””””””””””””””
Well, whoever you are rooting for, Blake or Jordin, good luck!
By Benning W. De La Mater of the Berkshire Eagle Staff 2007-05-23
Happy Memorial Day, everyone… enjoy the long weekend and the great weather!!! (And I would mention how well the Red Sox are doing, but I don’t want to jinx ‘em!)
PS> Here’s some Bay State trivia for ya – Wrentham, Mass is the only Wrentham in the country!
