Urban News

. BOSTON) -- A court in Massachusetts has ruled that that state's acting governor, Jane Swift, was within her legal rights when she fired two members of the Massachusetts Turnpike Commission. The Boston Globe is reporting that Swift did not violate state law, even though the mandate setting up the commission has no provision for firing board members.

The commission has been the lead agency in the massive, on-going Big Dig tunnel and viaduct project in downtown Boston. The project, due to be completed in two years, has caused a major disruption in city traffic, disturbed hundreds of residents in the area during blasting and has even suffered from a breach in a tunnel wall that allowed seawater to pour in.

One additional concern of the commission in recent months has been the worry that as the project winds down, many construction workers will opt to leave early for other jobs, jeopardizing plans to keep the project on schedule.

(DENVER) -- Critics of the federally financed clean-up of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant say the project is not proving to be effective. The massive endeavor, aimed at turning the contaminated site into a wildlife refuge, has thus far cost taxpayers more than $7 billion.

The Denver Post says that the site is still contaminated with tons of plutonium and other radioactive materials; the contamination is in the soil and in remaining buildings.

The residual radiation is said to be 40 times greater than what would be allowed were the site to be earmarked for full-time use by humans, instead of animals.

The area is only 15 miles northwest of Denver.

(MILWAUKEE) -- For those who live in parts of the country where Krispy Kreme Doughnut shops are as thick as 7-11s, it's hard to understand why any city would get excited over the opening of its first franchise. But, citizens of Milwaukee are lined up around the block to sample the sugary delights of the city's first KK shop.

The Journal Sentinel says that local TV and radio stations were on hand as the first tasty torus emerged from the fryer. Two radio stations even did remote broadcasts throughout the day.

In a city famous for its food -- including Mader's, that combination Medieval museum and German eatery downtown -- locals jumped at the chance to sample the latest contribution to Milwaukee's finest.

By the way, when the first Krispy Kreme franchises opened in Los Angeles several years ago, members of the LAPD were called out to handle the traffic jams generated by the line of vehicles queued up at the drive-through window ... and out into the street ... and around the block.

(KANSAS CITY, Kan.) -- The debate over the future of sewer reconstruction in the southwest suburbs of Kansas City, Kan., is heating up as officials try to work out a cost-sharing arrangement between city and county jurisdictions. The Kansas City Star is reporting that several months ago Johnson County commissioners announced a plan to relocate lines in six K.C. suburbs, Overland Park, Prairie Village, Leawood, Shawnee, Fairway and Mission.

Some experts, according to the publication, estimate that the cost of the project could be more than $2 million a year.

If county agencies end up footing part of the bill, the action would create a precedent. At no time in the past has the Johnson County Wastewater group paid for any sewer relocation when the project involved part of the Kansas City metroplex.