The Boston Globe
Mass. steps up climate rules for developers
Pollution, traffic to be assessed
By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff
April 22, 2007
In a major change to Massachusetts environmental policy, private developers will now be required to estimate the greenhouse gases their large-scale projects will produce and reduce them with measures such as energy-efficient lighting, alternative fuels, or commuter shuttles.
Effective immediately, developers planning projects large enough to warrant a state environmental review will have to assess how the projects contribute to the pollution that leads to global warming, Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian A. Bowles told the Globe. Not only will the state look at direct emissions from smokestacks and heating with fossil fuels, but it will consider the indirect effect of thousands of workers driving to a new office park.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/22/mass_steps_up_climate_rules_for_developers/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Changing Climate for New England along the 45th Parrallel
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/climate_change/
A climate for growth
By Edward L. Glaeser
April 23, 2007
IN SOME places, April is a delightful month where cherry blossoms bloom in the warmth of spring. But not in Boston. As we watch northeasters chill marathon runners, global warming starts looking less like the environmental crisis that it is and more like a good regional development strategy.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/04/23/a_climate_for_growth/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Japan PM to broach post-Kyoto cooperation with Bush
April 23, 2007
TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes to find ways in which the United States can cooperate on a post-Kyoto Protocol framework when he meets U.S. President George W. Bush later this week, the Japanese leader said on Monday.
A Japanese official said earlier that climate change and nuclear energy would be on the agenda when the two leaders meet during Abe's two-day visit to the United States from Thursday.
"An alliance is a relationship of trust and to show at home and abroad that this trust has been strengthened is in Japan's national interests," Abe said in a televised interview.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/04/23/japan_pm_to_broach_post_kyoto_cooperation_with_bush/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Reforms need enforcement
April 23, 2007
MISSED deadlines are rarely a good sign, but the US House task force charged with locking in high ethics standards, as embraced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, can claim success if it moves promptly to recommend strong enforcement, including a credible, independent voice.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/04/23/reforms_need_enforcement/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Calif. coalition aims to build surf reef
By Noaki Schwartz, Associated Press Writer April 23, 2007
VENTURA, Calif. --Californians have created plenty of surf spots by accident with harbor jetties, power plant outflows and even drainage pipes. Creating one on purpose is proving more difficult.
In Ventura County, engineers want to build the nation's first successful artificial "surf reef" at a site known as Oil Piers, an accidentally created surfing hot spot that disappeared when a pier was demolished in 1998.
Surfers hope the project will revive the waves at what had been one of the most reliable surf spots on a strikingly picturesque stretch of the Southern California coast.
Environmentalists say the reef is needed to stop massive erosion eating away at the beach.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/23/calif_coalition_aims_to_build_surf_reef/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Kulongoski aims to protect water network
By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press Writer
April 20, 2007
GRANTS PASS, Ore. --Inspired by California's expansion of marine reserves, Gov. Ted Kulongoski has put aside a proposal to nominate the entire Oregon Coast as a national marine sanctuary, and wants to protect a smaller network of state waters instead.
In a letter this week to the Ocean Policy Advisory Committee, Kulongoski said he had watched "with interest" California's recent designation of 29 new marine reserves, and asked the panel to recommend places to protect within Oregon's three-mile limit and a process for that considers the desires of the public and state and federal agencies.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2007/04/20/kulongoski_aims_to_protect_water_network/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Carpooling gets a new dash of green
By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff April 23, 2007
CAMBRIDGE -- Robin Chase tried to transform the concept of car ownership seven years ago when she cofounded Zipcar Inc., the world's largest car-sharing company. Her newest venture fuses social networking and ride-sharing , aiming to change the way people think about car travel altogether.
GoLoco.org is part high-tech college ride board and part social calendar, with a dash of environmental conscience. The online service -- which went live yesterday, Earth Day -- brokers trips between friends, neighbors, and strangers, then automatically divvies up the cost, the seats in the car, and the carbon dioxide emissions.
"GoLoco: It means go loco -- go crazy, go free-spirited. Go location to location with local transportation. Go low cost. Go low carbon dioxide," Chase said.
http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2007/04/23/carpooling_gets_a_new_dash_of_green/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Boston to plant 100,000 trees over 13 years
April 28, 2007
BOSTON --Boston plans to plant 100,000 trees over the next 13 years, with an emphasis on greening some of the city's least green neighborhoods.
City leaders say more trees will lower summer temperatures, absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water runoff from the ground, and improve the psychological health of city residents.
Mayor Thomas Menino told The Boston Globe that the plan would bring the tree coverage to more than one-third of all city land. He said Boston will partner with the U.S. Forest Service to designate the city an "urban experimental forest," where researchers will study the effects of trees on urban populations.
"There's no downside to having more trees," Menino said. "They bring people together and give people pride in their neighborhood."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/04/28/boston_to_plant_100000_trees_over_13_years/
On climate, a lack of leadership
April 22, 2007
THE DIFFERENT planet Earth that humankind is creating through global warming will be a much less habitable place for those living near the equator. But droughts, flooding, extreme heat, wildfires, violent storms, and species extinction will hit areas all over the globe, according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
While human ingenuity will mitigate some of the worst effects, nations must agree quickly on measures to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. No meaningful agreement will take shape, though, unless the two biggest sources of carbon dioxide, the United States and China, stop sitting on the sidelines in the effort to limit emissions.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/04/22/on_climate_a_lack_of_leadership/
East Timor drowns in language soup
By Ahmad Pathoni April 22, 2007
DILI (Reuters) - Portuguese is one of the two official languages in East Timor, but you can hardly hear it spoken in the streets of the young nation.
The tiny country was a Portuguese colony for more than three centuries, but only an estimated 5 percent of its one million people now speak the European language.
After Lisbon cut the territory free, East Timor was occupied by neighboring Indonesia for 24 years before gaining full independence in 2002.
Under Indonesian rule, Portuguese was suppressed and speakers of the language now mostly come from the political elite or are older people educated in the colonial era.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2007/04/22/east_timor_drowns_in_language_soup/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Syria holds tightly controlled election
By Zeina Karam, Associated Press Writer April 23, 2007
DAMASCUS, Syria --Syrians voted Monday in a tightly controlled election to pick a new legislature, a vote President Bashar Assad hopes can consolidate his rule, soften his regime's authoritarian image and ease its international isolation.
The result of the election, which under the constitution guarantees the ruling Baath Party and its allies a two-thirds majority, was not expected before Wednesday. But there was no doubt about the outcome.
A priority facing the rubber-stamp parliament is approving the Baath's nomination of Assad for a second seven-year term in office. The president is expected to easily win a July referendum.
A dose of democracy, however limited, could serve to boost Assad's standing at home as he tries to soften Syria's hard-line image and ease its international isolation after being shunned by U.S. and European officials over policies in neighboring Iraq and Lebanon.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/04/23/syrians_vote_for_new_parliament/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Man and woman shot at luxury hotel
By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press Writer April 23, 2007
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. --A man and a woman were killed at a luxury oceanfront resort when police fired into their bungalow after they refused to drop a handgun, authorities said.
Police were called Sunday to the Montage Resort and Spa by a security guard who said a man and a woman were engaged in a domestic dispute, said police Sgt. Jason Kravetz.
"It may not have been domestic violence, but that's how we were called to the scene," Kravetz said. "Usually in a domestic violence (case) the woman doesn't go out and try to shoot at other people."
Several 911 callers said a naked woman was running around the hotel waving a gun, authorities said. She was distraught and periodically threatened people with the gun, Kravetz said.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/23/man_and_woman_shot_at_luxury_hotel/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Congress hesitant on legislation
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff April 23, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Despite calls for legislative action in the wake of last week's massacre at Virginia Tech, Democratic congressional leaders have no plans to bring up major gun control bills for votes, and supporters of stricter gun laws concede that significant gun legislation is highly unlikely to get serious consideration this year.
Democratic leaders, mindful of political damage their party has sustained in the past for seeking to crack down on guns, are hesitant to push for high-profile gun bills, such as mandating trigger locks or renewing the federal assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004.
Though Democrats are generally more supportive of gun control than Republicans, the gun issue splits the country more along regional and cultural lines than by political party. Indeed, Democrats won control of the House and Senate last year only with the election of Democrats from gun-friendly states including Virginia, Indiana, Kansas, and North Carolina.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/23/congress_hesitant_on_legislation/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Mayor's plan on guns appears to miss mark
Little impact seen for taking licenses
By Michael Naughton and Hailey Heinz, Globe Correspondents April 23, 2007
With gun violence in Boston up sharply in recent years, one of Mayor Thomas M. Menino's top legislative priorities this year would strip convicted gun offenders of their right to drive for up to five years.
Menino, however, wants to take away something that very few gun offenders have, according to a Globe analysis of more than 100 gun convictions last year and state Registry of Motor Vehicles records of those offenders.
Of the 119 gun offenders convicted in Suffolk County last year whose records were reviewed, 79 have already had their driver's licenses revoked or suspended for other reasons, for offenses from selling drugs near schools to repeatedly failing to appear in court on traffic violations.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/23/mayors_plan_on_guns_appears_to_miss_mark/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Man subdued by stun gun, dies
April 23, 2007
HAMDEN, Conn. --A 26-year-old man subdued with a stun gun after police say he was raging out of control, died about an hour after a Hamden officer used the Taser, police said.
David Mills was talking about demons, speaking incoherently and told police he was high on drugs when they found him on Helen Street early Saturday, police said.
Officers found Mills fighting on the ground with his friend, Adrian Teddington, police said. Police tried to intervene by separating the two, but Mills resisted by kicking, punching and biting officers, so they called for medical assistance and hit Mills with the Taser.
An autopsy was performed Sunday on Mills at the chief medical examiners office, according to Hamden police Capt. Ronald Smith.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2007/04/23/man_subdued_by_stun_gun_dies/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Campus police renew call to carry arms
Va. Tech slayings rekindle debate
By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff April 28, 2007
Campus police at several Boston-area colleges are renewing calls to be allowed to carry arms in the aftermath of the mass shootings at Virginia Tech.
Brandeis University, which has rejected calls to arm its police in the past, has agreed to reconsider the idea. Framingham State College officials are talking about it, and students at Suffolk University are circulating a petition calling for an armed force.
The majority of campus police departments in the nation's four year colleges, including Virginia Tech's, are already armed, but officials at some small colleges for years have staunchly opposed the idea even as their police have requested arms. The big schools in Massachusetts, including Boston University, Northeastern, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts, and all five campuses of the University of Massachusetts, have armed police. Most colleges in the State College system also have armed police forces.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/28/campus_police_renew_call_to_carry_arms/
Teens face weapons, drug charges in Concord
April 28, 2007
CONCORD, N.H. --Two teenage boys face weapons and drug charges after officers found drugs, alcohol and two handguns in their car this week. One of the weapons had been stolen from a Deerfield police officer's home a day earlier, police said.
Sean Miller, 17, of Concord, and a 16-year-old passenger in Miller's car were charged with possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle, receiving stolen property and drug possession.
Miller also was charged with transporting alcohol as a minor and the 16-year-old, whose name wasn't released, also was charged with carrying a loaded handgun without a license, possessing property without a serial number and drug possession with intent to distribute.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2007/04/28/teens_face_weapons_drug_charges_in_concord/
FBI director pledges help
Focus on gang violence
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff April 28, 2007
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said he pledged the bureau's help in cracking down on gang violence throughout the state during a meeting yesterday with Massachusetts State Police Colonel Mark F. Delaney.
"What is clear is that we have to work together to address the problem," Mueller told the Globe yesterday. Mueller said FBI officials in Boston have been meeting regularly with Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis and other law enforcement officials about tapping more federal resources to target gangs and deal with an increase in homicides.
" My own view is we ought to do whatever we can" to help law enforcement lower the homicide rate "because of the dramatic impact on a community from violent crime," Mueller said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/28/fbi_director_pledges_help/
Correction system 'mess' held inmates past their time
Man imprisoned four years too long
By Thomas Farragher, Globe Staff April 22, 2007
As Rommel Jones sat praying in the middle of his prison cell on a chilly spring evening two years ago, he was certain he heard a soothing voice that carried buoyant news.
You're going home tomorrow, it told him.
After intermittent prison sentences that stretched back into the 1980s, when he was a thief battling drug addiction and mental illness, he was eager to pack up. And when morning broke, he politely greeted his jailers at the medium security prison in Shirley.
"I'm leaving today," he recalls telling them. "My sentence is over."
Instead, Jones was whisked out of his cell and placed on a mental health watch at the adjacent maximum security prison for two weeks.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/22/correction_system_mess_held_inmates_past_their_time/
'Pay-as-you-go' threatens Dems' agenda
By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Writer
April 23, 2007
WASHINGTON --No tax cuts and no benefit increases that require government borrowing!
That vow by Democrats upon taking control of Congress has now slowed their own agenda, beginning with efforts to increase the minimum wage and cut interest rates on student loans.
Other Democratic promises also are in peril because Democrats revived the pay-as-you-go -- or pay-go, for short -- rule that prevailed during Bill Clinton's presidency and helped produce surpluses instead of deficits on the government's books. Among them are boosting health care for poor children, reforming a hidden middle-class tax increase and easing scheduled cuts in Medicare payments to doctors.
Under the pay-go regimen, legislation to cut taxes or boost federal benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid or a health insurance program for low-income children must be "paid for" with tax increases or other benefit cuts. Issuing government bonds to cover the costs is forbidden.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/23/pay_as_you_go_threatens_agenda/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Democrats challenge Bush on Iraq bill
By David Espo, AP Special Correspondent
April 23, 2007
WASHINGTON --A historic veto showdown assured, Democratic leaders agreed Monday on legislation that requires the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later.
"No more will Congress turn a blind eye to the Bush administration's incompetence and dishonesty," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a speech in which he accused the president of living in a state of denial about events in Iraq more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion.
Bush, confident of enough votes to sustain his veto, was unambiguous in his response. "I will strongly reject an artificial timetable (for) withdrawal and/or Washington politicians trying to tell those who wear the uniform how to do their job," he told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with his top Iraq commander, Gen. David Petraeus.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/23/reid_bush_in_denial_over_war_in_iraq/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Amid tensions, US, Iran both give lift to Afghanistan city
By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff
April 23, 2007
HERAT, Afghanistan -- When the US government wanted to show its friendship here after the Taliban fell, it brought fuel to run the generators at the local hospital. When neighboring Iran wanted to show its friendship, it brought electricity to the entire city.
Today, Herat -- just 75 miles from the Iranian border -- is the only place in Afghanistan with power 24 hours a day, impeccably paved highways, and plans for a railroad. Even US officials acknowledge that this stunning progress occurred mostly thanks to Iran.
As tension mounts over Iran's nuclear ambitions and alleged support for militants in Iraq, Afghanistan offers the greatest chance for cooperation between Washington and Tehran. But it also stands the greatest risk of becoming the next battlefield.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/04/23/amid_tensions_us_iran_both_give_lift_to_afghanistan_city/?p1=email_to_a_friend
Cervical cancer vaccine in demand in N.H.
April 23, 2007
CONCORD, N.H. --New Hampshire has no plans to accelerate its free distribution of the new cervical cancer vaccine despite high demand, a public health official said Monday.
"We expected all along there would be an initial demand, but there is a finite amount of resources," said Greg Moore, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services. "This program is going to take a significant part of our budget over the next four years."
New Hampshire was the first state to approve free distribution of Gardisil, which protects girls against four strains of a sexually transmitted infection called human papillomavirus, or HPV.
But four months into the program, doctors offices say demand, stimulated by advertising, has led to waiting lists and some soul-searching about who should get the shots first.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2007/04/23/nh_doctors_demand_high_for_cervical_cancer_vaccine/?p1=email_to_a_friend
FDA rejects Vioxx-like painkiller
Critics say drug faced higher bar on safety
By Diedtra Henderson, Globe Staff April 28, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration yesterday rejected Merck & Co.'s new Vioxx-like painkiller because of some of the same heart concerns that pushed the blockbuster from the market.
Merck has invested millions of dollars to conduct more extensive clinical trials than any rival seeking to sell a similar painkiller . And it now must decide whether to invest millions more in Arcoxia to satisfy the FDA's heightened safety concerns. Peter S. Kim , Merck Research Laboratories president who just months ago hinted at seeking FDA approval to return Vioxx to the market, said the company is "disappointed" by the decision.
Daniel Troy , former FDA chief counsel , said the agency's higher standards for Arcoxia's approval represent "a major departure" from past practice. The FDA approves drugs that are proven safe and effective, but it cannot require manufacturers to demonstrate those therapies are more safe or more effective than available treatments.
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/04/28/fda_rejects_vioxx_like_painkiller/
Testing Harvard
The federal government wants to start tracking how well the nation's colleges teach. This could spur some of the biggest changes campuses have seen in decades -- and perhaps threaten the very idea of a liberal education.
By Linda K. Wertheimer April 22, 2007
With neon green and purple chairs in tiered rows, the auditorium in Harvard's science center looks like a stadium theater. But the physics professor at the front of the room, Eric Mazur, takes pains not to behave like a sage on the stage.
Rather than lecture, he flashes questions on a movie-sized screen and asks the roughly 125 students to input their answers in hand-held devices. Then, their responses pour into his computer, and he sees an immediate answer to a question that many professors rarely ask: At $43,655 for tuition, room, and board, are Harvard students getting their money's worth?
Mazur is a pioneer in a growing movement that sees more aggressive evaluation as a way to transform higher education. Professors like Mazur have been experimenting with the idea for a decade. But over the last two years, an increasing number of colleges and universities, including Harvard, have begun using critical thinking and writing tests to see if their students are learning what they should. And now the federal government is pushing to require all colleges to regularly assess students' progress -- and reveal the results to the public.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/04/22/testing_harvard/
MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE THE FIRST YEAR
Progress and perils
Thousands more in state have coverage under ambitious program, but challenges lie ahead over funding and getting message out to all
By Alice Dembner, Globe Staff April 22, 2007
Massachusetts has made a strong start toward ensuring that all state residents have health insurance, but it faces major obstacles as it seeks to achieve the full promise of landmark legislation signed into law a year ago, according to more than a dozen analysts, policy makers, and advocates.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/22/progress_and_perils/
As US lags, economy in Mass. soars
First quarter growth 4 times national rate
By Robert Gavin, Globe Staff April 28, 2007
The Massachusetts economy surged in the first quarter, nearly quadrupling the national growth rate and recalling the technology-driven expansion of the 1990s.
The state's economy grew at a 4.7 percent annual rate in the first quarter, the fastest pace in nearly 7 years, according to a report yesterday from the University of Massachusetts. The US economy grew at a 1.3 percent rate, its worst performance since early 2003, the Commerce Department said.
These reports represent a dramatic reversal. For most of the past few years, Massachusetts lagged the nation as the state's economy slowly shed the effects of the technology bust that began around 2001.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/28/as_us_lags_economy_in_mass_soars/
Mass. House approves $26.9 billion budget
Plan reaches further into state's reserves
By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff April 28, 2007
The House adopted a $26.9 billion budget yesterday that dips further into reserves to add $175 million in spending -- including millions for Medicaid, anti gang initiatives, and economic development -- to the initial blueprint it released earlier this month.
Approved after a week of mostly private deliberations, the House budget gives a bit more deference to Governor Deval Patrick's high-profile proposals than the House Ways and Means Committee did, adding more money for extended learning time in schools, tobacco cessation, and community policing.
The governor's office said in a statement released yesterday afternoon that it was "pleased that there was some positive movement on some of the governor's priorities."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/28/mass_house_approves_269_billion_budget/
Patrick intervenes in loan crisis
Officials will speak with lenders to help at-risk homeowners
By Kimberly Blanton, Globe Staff April 28, 2007
Governor Deval Patrick yesterday directed state banking officials to intervene on behalf of homeowners facing foreclosure by negotiating on ways to save their homes with their lenders.
Patrick's instruction was delivered after a protest at his State House office Thursday by financially troubled homeowners whose houses are scheduled to be auctioned off in coming days by lenders that have foreclosed on the delinquent loans and seized the property.
Banking Commissioner Steven Antonakes said his agency already has secured 60- to 90-day freezes on the foreclosure process from lenders on behalf of 11 of the protesters, and his office is waiting to hear from others who also filed complaints about their situation during the protest Thursday.
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/04/28/patrick_intervenes_in_loan_crisis/
Hedging disaster
By Robert Kuttner April 28, 2007
THIS PAST WEEK, even jaded observers of Wall Street were startled to learn that last year's top hedge fund manager, James Simons of Renaissance Technologies, made $1.7 billion in 2006. Alpha Magazine reported that the top 25 hedge fund earners garnered an average of $570 million in 2006, up from $362 million in 2005.
The burgeoning hedge fund and private equity industries are both a cause and a symptom of a dangerously lopsided America. Because they are private (not listed on stock exchanges or offering shares to the public), these funds do not have to disclose their inner workings to regulators or to the public. Yet these unregulated funds are increasingly buying and selling some of our largest corporations, stripping assets, piling on debt, leaving employees and subsequent buyers to dig out of a deep hole.
The difference between hedge funds (unregulated mutual fund s for very wealthy individuals) and private equity (privately held firms that buy and sell entire companies) is collapsing, creating an unregulated sector of wild-west financial engineering rife with conflicts of interest.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/04/28/hedging_disaster/
POW/MIA families find hope as US presses for answers
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff
April 22, 2007
When she was 8 years old, Mary Hagan answered the door at her home in the Old Colony housing project in South Boston. A Marine in full dress uniform told her family that her brother, Second Lieutenant Norman F. Whittredge, was missing in action. His Corsair fighter plane, hit by antiaircraft fire over the Amami islands between Okinawa and mainland Japan, had disappeared.
Sixty-two years later, Hagan, now a mother of six and grandmother of 10, is still hoping her brother's remains are found.
"I hope they bring him home," Hagan, 70, said, fingering her brother's Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Medal in the living room of her Needham home. "I hope we get to bury him in this country. I think we've waited long enough."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/22/powmia_families_find_hope_as_us_presses_for_answers/
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