State Senate did the right thing on illegal immigration

I want to congratulate the state senators who passed legislation to crack down on illegal immigration, especially those who have been fighting for these common sense changes for years. Thank you also every one who let their state senators know that these were important changes that had to be made. Now let's encourage them to fight to get the changes through the conference committee.

Probation dept.. mess

The state senate plan to deal with the mess at the probation department is too little, too late. The state legislature broke the probation department. Nine years ago it took authority for the agency from the courts. The problems of patronage and abuse were well known and even Gov. Patrick tried to do some thing about them. But the legislature refused to deal with the problems. Now, finally, the senate proposes "joint authority" and a commission. Joint authority means no accountability and we do not need studies to know that the courts should control what happens in court houses. We should demand an investigation to find out which legislators took advantage of the probation mess.

State benefits should be for legal residents

I want to commend those in the legislature who want to ensure that state benefits only go to those legally in the country. The Republicans in the House, along with a lot of Democrats, almost succeeded in passing a similar provision. Let's hope enough Democrats in the Senate join the Republicans in voting for these common sense amendments. Let me know what you think.