Updates on Judge's Libel Claim & Big Dig

A couple of regional updates perhaps of interest generally:

• Judge Ernest Murphy, who won $2 million in a libel claim against the Boston Herald (recently upheld by the SJC), has had ethics charges filed against him for allegedly trying to bully the Herald into paying more than $2 million.  The letter making the demand for roughly $500,000 more than was awarded was made public two years ago in the Herald's filings seeking the award's reversal.  The letters are available on the Herald's website.
• The NTSB has released its report (press release, synopsis, presentations, video of presentation (Real), Globe coverage).  There's blame to spare; the major focus seems to be on the failure to properly anticipate and test the long-term efficacy of the epoxy in question, though there were certainly many other issues.  The report has some criticism of the warnings given with the epoxy as well.

--BC