Medfield Town Online

Family members and friends of missing children gathered for the 10th year in a row Tuesday to hear soothing words from top state officials – Senate President Therese Murray, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and Secretary of Public Safety Mary Beth Heffernan.

Senate Republicans charted a three-day electoral minefield for their Democratic colleagues Tuesday, highlighting budget amendments designed to squeeze out cost savings – while painting their leader, lieutenant governor candidate Richard Tisei, into the role of reformer.

A new version of a criminal records system overhaul, advanced by the House on Tuesday, is as notable for the swaths of Senate-passed proposals it eliminates as for the provisions it contains.

The Chicago-based hedge fund hiring Michael Travaglini away from the state pension management team survived the pension fund’s downsizing of its hedge fund portfolio last fall and landed a major asset management contract under his watch, the News Service has learned.

Republican lieutenant governor candidate and Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei would relinquish his job at a Lynnfield realty practice but maintain his financial interest, Charles Baker’s campaign said Tuesday, after Democratic Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray scored Tisei.

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray hit back at one of the candidates looking to take his job Tuesday, calling Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei’s intentions to maintain his realty practice “outrageous” and “insulting.”

Senate Minority Leader and lieutenant governor candidate Richard Tisei said Independent Treasurer Timothy Cahill will be unable to raise enough money to compete in November, ripped Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray as an ineffective governing partner, and affirmed that if elected he would maintain his role with a Lynnfield realty group.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo sought Monday to quell controversy over patronage in the state’s Probation Department, deferring action until the completion of an inquiry into agency practices ordered Monday by Judiciary Branch chieftains, who also suspended Commissioner John O’Brien after published reports of extensive favoritism hirings.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo brandished the biggest bargaining chip Thursday in his push for casinos and racetrack slot machines, questioning whether big-ticket health care cost control legislation would pass this year – a direct challenge to Senate President Therese Murray’s top policy hope.

If elected, State Treasurer candidate Steve Grossman said his experience running his family’s Somerville-based graphic design business would help him create jobs and dig the state pension fund out of a $22 billion hole.

Grossman is running against Karyn Polito, a Republican Massachusetts state representative, and Stephen Murphy, a longtime Boston city councilor.

Casino developers at Suffolk Downs would not have to pay for a $47 million parking garage underway at nearby Wonderland Station, Gov. Deval Patrick said Thursday, closing the door his top economic development aide opened two days earlier.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo brandished the biggest bargaining chip Thursday in his push for casinos and racetrack slot machines, questioning whether big-ticket health care cost control legislation would pass this year – a direct challenge to Senate President Therese Murray’s top policy hope.

Presumptive Republican gubernatorial nominee Charles Baker said Thursday the state should retain its standardized public school tests, rejecting a nascent proposal to replace the MCAS with new exams, a prospect Gov. Deval Patrick’s education chief called “unlikely.”

Gov. Deval Patrick, who has blamed steep job losses on unprecedented global economic forces, swiftly claimed credit Thursday for the state’s largest monthly payroll growth in 17 years, pointing to his economic policies as the driver behind the 19,100 new jobs.