Newton, Mass. Mayor Warren to challenge Sen. Brown

Newton, Mass. Mayor Warren to challenge Sen. Brown

Newton Mayor Setti Warren is jumping into the race against Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown.

Warren made the announcement Monday in a video posted on a new senate campaign website.

The Democrat is in his first term and conceded that while many people don’t know him, he is about as familiar to voters as Brown was two years ago.

Warren is the state’s first popularly elected black mayor.

Warren is an Iraq War veteran, having served a yearlong tour of duty as a Naval Intelligence Specialist. He also worked in the White House under former President Bill Clinton and is a past staff member for Democratic U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

Warren joins a growing Democratic field against Brown, including City Year co-founder Alan Khazei and former lieutenant governor candidate Robert Massie.

Ex-Mass. Speaker’s trial continues

The federal corruption trial of former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi is scheduled to continue.

The Democrat is accused of steering two lucrative contracts to a software firm in exchange for $65,000 in illegal payments.

Attorney Steven Topazio, a former DiMasi law associate, was expected to take the stand in U.S. District Court on Monday.

DiMasi and two co-defendants, lobbyist Joseph McDonough and Richard Vitale, an accountant and close DiMasi friend, have pleaded not guilty. A fourth man charged in the scheme, Joseph Lally, a former salesman for the Cognos software firm, pleaded guilty in a deal that could offer him a lighter prison sentence in exchange for testimony against DiMasi and the others.

Prosecutors have said DiMasi was motivated by deep debt.

Mass. Gov. Patrick hoping to curb youth violence

Gov. Deval Patrick is hoping to make good on a key promise of his second term: Curbing youth violence.

The governor headed to the Mildred Avenue Community Center in Boston on Monday to announce how the state can reduce violence among young people.

In January, the Democratic governor told The Associated Press that while state government alone can’t solve the problem, he’ll work at the community level with mothers, youth workers and others to bring about a change.

Patrick made his pledge following violent incidents involving young people, including last year’s shooting death of an eighth-grade Boston honors student after he went to buy Mother’s Day cards for his mother and grandmother.

Patrick had visited with Jaewon Martin’s mother after his killing.

Mass. SJC reviews report on hiring practices

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court says it will start implementing some of the recommendations made by a task force appointed to review hiring of court officers.

Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert Mulligan said Friday after a review of the recommendations the court could begin work on those that set the stage for future hiring and affect current staff.

The plan by the task force chaired by former state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger includes best practices for attracting and employing the most qualified people, restricting the use of recommendations until finalists are selected, and annual performance evaluations.

The task force was established to review hiring practices in all branches of the judiciary following a report that found rampant political patronage in hiring decisions within the Probation Department.

Material from the Associated Press contributed to this report.