Cash Toll Collection to End Next Year on the Tobin

Tolls on the Tobin Bridge will be collected electronically - without any cash payments to toll collectors - starting next year.

Beverly commuters headed to Boston across the Tobin Bridge won't have to stop to pay the toll starting next year, the state Department of Transportation announced on Monday. MassDOT said it is making plans for “All Electronic Tolling” on the Tobin Bridge, a form of toll collection that means drivers don’t have to stop or slow down to pay the toll. There will be several informational meetings to explain the program to North Shore commuters and answer questions about it. The closest meeting will be held in Salem on Tuesday, June 18 at 6 p.m. The new program is about six month away. Starting in early 2014, drivers will not have the option to stop at a tollbooth and pay the toll with cash on the Tobin Bridge. Instead, tolls will be collected …

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Kids Can 'Touch a Truck' on Sunday

Trucks of all sizes and shapes will be open for children (of all ages) to explore at Beverly High School on Sunday.

State House News Service Weekly Roundup: Three's Company

Recap and analysis of the week in state government.

Like pieces of a puzzle that don't quite fit together yet, the Big Three may have been separated at birth, but with each incremental step their destinies seem to grow more intertwined. No, we're not talking about those Big Three - Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and Speaker Robert DeLeo - though they play major character roles in this thickening plot.  Instead, three bills have come to define the early months of the 2013 legislative agenda and resolutions on tax hikes, local road funding and the annual state budget continue to be elusive and dependent on one another. Patrick spent the early part of his week welcoming British Prime Minister David Cameron to Boston for a few quick meetings and a visit to the Copley …

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Police 'Keeping an Eye' on City's Water Supply

Beverly's surface water supply is easier to monitor than the large and remote Quabbin Reservoir, where seven trespassers were found on Tuesday.

The Beverly and Salem drinking water supply’s primary source – Wenham Lake – is under the watchful eyes of police and many others from roads that come close to the lake. That’s according to Thomas W. Knowlton, the superintendent of the Salem-Beverly Water Supply Board. His comments came on Wednesday in the wake of the news that seven trespassers were found early Tuesday morning at Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s Quabbin Reservoir. State Police spokesman David Procopio told the Boston Globe that the alleged trespassers were from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Singapore and now live in Amherst, Cambridge, Sunderland and Northampton. State Police and the FBI are investigating the incident at the water supply for Boston and many …

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You Ask...Patch Answers

When Will Stickers Start to be Required at Lynch Park?

Resident stickers or an admission fee is charged at Lynch Park during the daytime in the summer.

Stickers will be required starting later this month for daytime entrance to the city's centerpiece park - Lynch Park. Park employees will start checking for resident stickers and handing out stickers on May 25. Stickers will be required through Labor Day weekend, Sept. 2, according to Recreation Director Bruce Doig. Stickers are free to Beverly residents, with proof shown by a vehicle registration. The stickers are given out by park staff at the entrance driveway to the park anytime it is staffed after May 25 and given out through the end of the summer. If a park visitor does not have a sticker and is not a city resident, the charge is $5 per car on a weekday and $15 per car on weekends. The park is staffed 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and…

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Markey Leads Gomez in New Poll

Congressman Ed Markey leads Gabriel Gomez by 17 points.

A new Suffolk University/7NEWS (WHDH) poll shows a strong lead for Democratic U.S. Congressman Edward Markey over Republican businessman and former U.S. Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez in the race for the U.S. Senate special election. The poll of 500 likely voters has Markey at 52 percent and Gomez at 35 percent. Eleven percent of voters in the poll were undecided. A third-party candidate, Richard Heos of the Twelve Visions Party, got 1 percent and another 1 percent refused to respond. David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston, said along with the announcement of the poll that Markey has "a large lead over his Republican opponent who voters are unsure about." Indeed, 32 percent of those polled said …

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Markey or Gomez: Who Would You Vote for Today?

There is a lot of campaigning to do before the Democrat and Republican face off on June 25 in the U.S. Senate special election.

After months of campaigning we now know who is going head-to-head in the June 25 special U.S. Senate election. Democratic Congressman Edward Markey (D-Malden) took the Democratic vote in the Tuesday election over fellow Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston). Political newcomer and former U.S. Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez of Cohasset came out on top of a field of Republican candidates  - including more seasoned opponents former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and State Rep. Dan Winslow of Norfolk. With a month-and-a-half of campaigning still to come, we wanted to stop and ask: if the special election was held today - who would you vote for right now? Markey or Gomez? Tell us in our comments section below.

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pja

4:22 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2013

progressive/liberal /socialist are happier with markey ,i think its a fact ,,im have to vote for gomez ,,i would rather do something than nothing ,,im a conservative outside of moving to another state what are the choices ,,,you get lemons you make lemonade !!   more ›