By Dan Yorke, WPRO
NOW DAYS AFTER NEMO
We look back and reflect on the storm and a couple of things stand out.
First: Good call to close the roads until Saturday at four. This allowed for some thorough, plow work to be done on the major highways, and by that time in the day they were relatively clear. All in all, pretty good state road response. The locals? Well, there wasn’t much room to throw the snow, and the politics of snow removal can cloud judgment.
National Grid: It all depends on your experience, right? No power, no good. Power, well, uh, I guess they did 
ok. Frankly, the guilt does set in when you have the power. They did haul in plenty of out-of-state convoys to attack the outages. So I give them a passing grade. But what is unacceptable is the passive, almost dismissive response to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and his wondering out loud about burying the grid underground. We’ve never studied that other than to note that New Hampshire did and man, it’s really expensive at 40 billion over 40 years. We deserve better from the utility and they shouldn’t be waiting for public policy players to ask. Have the data available so we can at least have a reasonable conversation about the possibilities.
SOME NEW MOMENTUM FOR ANOTHER FEE
This would add another 20 bucks on your car inspection every two years instead of tolls at the Sakonnet River Bridge. Why can’t we just find the 5 million bucks for the bridge maintenance in the 8 billion dollar state budget?
CENTRAL FALLS EX-MAYOR CHUCK MOREAU
The ex-Mayor got two years for his antics. Rather than pure contrition, he tells us how he has changed the lives of so many, and will again when he returns. How will the people survive in his absence?
THE STATE OF UNION WAS ANOTHER SANTA LIST
Maddening was the complaint by the President that minimum wage full-time earners can’t afford their two kids. Taking the wage to nine bucks an hour ain’t going to help much. Why can’t anyone in this country suggest that before you have kids you make a plan to afford them?
THE POPE RESIGNS
Incredible move. Drama from the Vatican is always riveting and takes the breath away from so many. The main stream media will remain fixed on the abuse scandal as part of every account of the unfolding succession. Almost as much of an injustice as the abuse itself.
At least the trucks made it out of Fenway before the storm. Yes, Virginia, there will be a baseball season.
Have a great weekend.
