BU launches global health initiative

BU launches global health initiative

Boston University is investing $10 million to launch a global health initiative to bring experts from multiple disciplines and a nationwide network of universities to improve health in the developing world.

BU president Robert Brown announced the new initiative on Monday at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

The Center for Global Health and Development will connect specialists from BU’s medical and public health schools with engineers, social workers and educators to tackle diseases that cause millions of deaths each year.

BU’s center will be headed by Dr. Jonathon Simon, chairman of the International Health Department in BU’s School of Public Health, which already is conducting 50 applied research studies in 22 countries.

Hub officials under fire for deleting e-mails

Two Boston city councilors and a South End businessman who are running against Mayor Thomas M. Menino in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary asked for a state criminal investigation into the routine deleting of work e-mails by officials in Menino’s administration.

The Boston Globe reported Sunday that Menino’s administration has acknowledged that officials have been regularly deleting their work e-mails. The newspaper revealed the practice through public records requests and called it a potential violation of public records laws.

City Councilors-at-Large Michael F. Flaherty and Sam Yoon and businessman Kevin McCrea, all of whom are running against Menino, have called for a criminal investigation. Secretary of State William F. Galvin on Monday ordered an independent forensic investigation.

State law requires municipal employees to save e-mails for two years. City officials have recently implemented a new electronic document retention policy.

Report: Mass. loses thousands of industrial jobs

The economic downturn has cost Massachusetts more than 25,000 manufacturing jobs.

That figure comes from the annual Massachusetts Manufacturers Register, which reported that industrial employment fell by 6.4 percent in the Bay State during the 24-month period between July 2007 and July 2009.

Massachusetts remains home to more than 9,100 manufacturers employing about 373,000 workers, with electronics continuing to be the top industrial sector.

The state directories are published by Evanston, Ill.-based Manufacturers’ News Inc. Publisher Tom Dubin says an educated work force and strong biotechnology industry should help lay the groundwork for a recovery in Massachusetts.

12 picked to review black Harvard scholar’s arrest

CAMBRIDGE — Twelve people from across the country have been chosen to serve on an independent panel to review the arrest of a black Harvard scholar at his home by a white police officer, Cambridge officials said last Thursday.

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum, was tapped to lead a committee that will include Yale law professor Tracey Meares, former FBI assistant director Louis Quijas and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey.

City leaders created the panel after the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. triggered a national debate over racial profiling. Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley arrested Gates for disorderly conduct at his home July 16 while investigating a possible burglary. The charge was dropped, and Gates alleged he was a victim of racial profiling.

President Barack Obama invited Crowley and Gates for an informal “beer summit” at the White House two weeks later.

“This is a historic opportunity for the city to emerge as a stronger community,” Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy said in a statement.

Healy said panel members were chosen based on their diverse professional backgrounds and their experience with community relations and conflict resolution.

Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas said the newly named panel will give an “independent assessment” of the July 16 arrest.

“Cambridge wants to take away something meaningful from this process that can be helpful for the city and the nation,” Haas said.

The committee is scheduled to meet for the first time early next month. It’s unclear how long its review will take.

Friendly crowd at Frank’s Mass. health care forum

WELLESLEY — U.S. Rep. Barney Frank’s latest town hall meeting on health care reform was much calmer than one last month, when a protester held a poster portraying the president as Hitler.

A friendly audience met last Saturday with the Democratic Massachusetts congressman at Massachusetts Bay Community College in the Boston suburb of Wellesley.

Before the meeting, 84-year-old Peggy Ives held a sign that read, “Grandfolk for Health Care Reform.” She said it’s time for the government to fix the system.

Physician Peter Cohen told Frank he supports a government-run option to expand health insurance to more people. But he said he worries that compromise would weaken it.

Last month, Frank hosted a contentious meeting in Dartmouth, where he lashed out at a poster depicting President Barack Obama with a Hitler-style mustache.

(Associated Press)