While the Globe is fixated on the Washington blame game and the Herald is aghast at welfare benefits going to a suspected bomber, newspapers from outside Boston are starting to correct the record of what happened during the massive manhunt for the Brothers Tsarnaev.
The New York Times and Washington Post (the Globe ran only a few paragraphs) report that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was found bleeding in a boat in a Watertown backyard on Friday, didn’t have a gun when he was taken into custody.
Police officials initially indicated they had exchanged gunfire with Tsarnaev. Indeed, the boat he was hiding in was riddled with bullet holes. But that version of events began to unravel as other details emerged. The Globe on Tuesday quoted Boston police superintendent William Evans, one of the first commanding officers on the scene, as saying he had to order everyone to cease fire when gunfire erupted. WCVB-TV also interviewed David Henneberry, the owner of the boat, who described in detail how he discovered Tsarnaev bleeding and lying motionless under the boat’s tarp. The Globe quotes an MBTA SWAT team member as saying Tsarnaev was struggling to remain conscious and hadn’t tried to kill himself, as some reports suggested.
The Times also begins to shed light on why authorities believe the Tsarnaevs shot and killed MIT police officer Sean Collier, the incident that triggered the massive police manhunt for them. The Times reports that the brothers lacked weapons and were so desperate to get more that they shot Collier in attempt to take his handgun. One anonymous law enforcement official told the Times that the Tsarnaevs couldn’t retrieve the gun because they couldn’t figure out how to release Collier’s triple-lock holster.
The door-to-door search in Watertown is also receiving more scrutiny. It now appears the house with the boat where Tsarnaev was hiding was within the perimeter set up by police to conduct door-to-door searches. Boston police Commissioner Ed Davis tells the Times: “It was an area that should have been checked.”
Some residents of the area are also grumbling about the searches themselves. Some of them report that the police knocked on their door, checking to make sure everything was OK. But other video footage shows the police knocking on the door of one home with weapons drawn and demanding that the occupants come out with their hands in the air. The Atlantic explores the legality of the searches here.
–BRUCE MOHL
MARATHON BOMBINGS
The Globe reports that a federal audit said there was a “high risk” that the federal information-sharing system would not prevent future terror attacks. The paper also reports that not just the FBI but the CIA also received a warning from Russian officials about Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The brothers set off their bombs with toy remote controls.
Federal budget cutbacks will have an impact on the defense of accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with lawyers from the public defenders office forced to take 15 days of furloughs between now and September as well as constraints on hiring experts and investigators. A Wall Street Journal op-ed likens President Obama’s handling of the terror strike to that of President Bush; this is not meant to be a compliment. Tsarnaev appears to be taking advantage of his right to remain silent after being Mirandized.
The Globe describes the difficult, uncertain road to recovery facing bomb victims who lost limbs or who may face wrenching decisions about amputation of limbs that doctors cannot repair.
More than 15,000 people, including Vice President Joe Biden, filled an MIT athletic field for a memorial service for slain campus police officer Sean Collier.
Keller@Large jumps on the straw man bandwagon, taking to task those who would criticize the celebration in Watertown following Tsarnaev’s arrest. But, like the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld did on Sunday, he doesn’t cite any actual critics.
Key players in the Marathon bombing drama share their insights and their emotions at the Kennedy School at Harvard, NECN reports.
A somber Boylston Street reopens for business. Neil Diamond pledges to donate Sweet Caroline profits to Marathon bomb victims, the Globe reports.
A Herald editorial calls the fact that Tamerlan Tsarnaev received welfare a decade after landing in the US “simply astonishing.”
BEACON HILL
A new federal indictment charges former state Probation Department chief John O’Brien with 17 counts of bribing state legislators by giving jobs to their supporters, friends, and relatives. None of those alleged to have been bribed, however, are charged.
The House passes a fiscal 2014 budget after adding nearly $134 million in spending, State House News reports (via Lowell Sun).
The casino compact with the Mashpee Wampanoag that was agreed to by Gov. Deval Patrick is mired in the House with no apparent desire by lawmakers to deal with it. A Globe editorial says the tribe should back-off its PR attack on the state gambling commission.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
A jury ordered Duxbury to pay $500,000 plus attorneys’ fees to the former manager of the town-owned golf course after it determined officials unfairly terminated the contract with the management company.
Lynn Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy says she plans to run for reelection, the Item reports.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
A super PAC formed by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords targets Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell of Tennessee and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire for their gun votes, NPR reports (via WBUR).
Congressional leaders are looking for ways to exempt lawmakers and their staff from the mandates of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, which they passed.
Hardened conservatives aren’t playing along with Rep. Eric Cantor’s bid to soften the GOP’s image.
The Washington Post explores the relationship, or more properly the lack of one, between Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Bush’s new library opens in Dallas, with five presidents, including Obama, in attendance, Time reports.
The Rhode Island state Senate passes a same-sex marriage bill.
ELECTIONS
Joan Vennochi tells a glass-jawed Ed Markey to man-up. Steve Lynch hopes for a late bounce as he goes on the offensive.
In the South Carolina congressional race, former governor Mark Sanford debates a cardboard cutout of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as a stand-in for his Democratic opponent Elizabeth Colbert Busch. He may live to regret that idea.
Asked the presidential prospects for her son Jeb, Barbara Bush responds that “there have been enough Bushes in the White House.”
Roxbury neighborhood leader John Barros joins the Boston mayoral free-for-all.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria is preparing to announce a casino deal with Steve Wynn, the Associated Press reports (via WBUR).
The Republican-controlled House in Michigan wants to end tax credits for movies and shift the funds to road repairs, the Detroit News reports. The Massachusetts House this week voted down a bid to cap at $40 million the amount the state spends on film tax credits.
A new report says that 32 people in Massachusetts died on the job from work-related injuries and illnesses in 2012.
EDUCATION
Carol Johnson, the Boston school superintendent, announced she will step down in July, two years before her contract expires.
A plan by the superintendent/receiver of the Lawrence schools to offer stipends to a “teacher leader cabinet” draws a complaint from the Lawrence Teachers Union, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
HEALTH CARE
Paul Levy says the attorney general’s report on health care costs can be an informative and transformative guide — if people actually pay attention.
The American Lung Association gave Bristol County a failing grade for air quality because of its smog.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
A former Lowell police officer gets two years in jail for extorting prostitutes, the Sun reports.
MEDIA
The New York Times announces a new strategy for growth, Poynter reports.
The president of the Vancouver Sun lays out the immense challenges for his paper very bluntly and forcefully.