OMB Editorial

With the primaries behind us, and Election Day looming in the middle distance, it seems like a good time to take a look at this year's three statewide ballot questions. And it's interesting that the progressive position on all three looks to be a "no" vote. Which is fairly unusual. Anyhow, this is a fun topic for a non-profit news publication to weigh in on because - unlike elections where backing a candidate would be seen as electioneering by the IRS and therefore illegal - non-profits are allowed to weigh in on ballot initiatives.

Since this publication covers the effects of the ongoing economic crisis on working families pretty much every week year round, I feel no particular need to write a one-off "things aren't looking up for working Americans" Labor Day editorial this year. For many news outlets nationwide, Labor Day is virtually the only time they write sympathetically (and all too briefly) about working people and our plight.

On Thursday, Gov. Deval Patrick announced a $1.2 million federal stimulus award to eight workforce training partnership programs across the Commonwealth. He made the announcement at St. Mary's Women and Children's Center in Dorchester - one of the programs receiving funding. A worthy group if ever there was one. Kudos are certainly due to the Patrick administration, the Obama administration's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the programs in question.

One of the pitfalls of running a non-profit independent news publication with a still-shoestring budget is that there are times when the absence of key staff - in this case your faithful Editor/Publisher - is far more apparent than it would be in larger publications. While all of us at Open Media Boston work week-in and week-out to build ourselves up all big and strong and well-paid and stuff, fact of the matter is that we're still a one editor operation.