Plenty of spark in nearby parks – City and state sites are booming in popularity
By Meghan E. Irons – Globe Staff / August 16, 2010

Hyde Park’s Ross Playground has always hosted a fairly steady traffic of joggers and dog walkers on summer evenings, but this year they have a lot of company. Crowds have come to play, bike, swing, and lounge. Most nights and weekends, the baseball diamonds are full, as are the basketball courts and the soccer fields.

“There is definitely a lot more activity here,’’ said Dana Bennett, 39, a carpenter from Mattapan who plays softball there with coworkers.

And, mystifying most everyone, the same increase in activity is happening at parks across Boston and the state.

Boston officials say that park usage — as measured by vendor sales, permits for organized activities, and the amount of garbage left behind — seems to be spiking this summer, with estimated increases of 10 percent at some parks up to 25 percent at others.

Department of Conservation and Recreation officials say statewide numbers show a jump of about 25 percent. And noticeably bigger crowds are in city parks from Cambridge to Worcester, where officials had to order additional trash pick up on weekends and ask lawn crews to add garbage collection to their mowing duties.

Mass. hospitals say funding squeeze will destabilize system
By Michael Norton / State House News Service – August 15, 2010

Massachusetts hospitals say they are facing slashed payments on multiple fronts, cuts that executives predict will destabilize the health care delivery system.

The state plans this fiscal year to cut reimbursements by $75 million in its main contract between hospitals and MassHealth, according to the Massachusetts Hospital Association, which cited “discussions” with the state in outlining the proposed cut to its members over the weekend.

The association said pay-for-performance programs would continue in 2011 but that instead of additional funding being paid to hospitals, MassHealth would withhold 2 percent of all hospital inpatient and outpatient payments and hospitals would then need to earn the payments back. Executives say the approach likely means 2011 rates “would likely be paid sometime in September 2012.”

Also, a new federal Medicare rule has cut payments to hospitals by $3.7 billion nationwide, with a $94 million reduction for Bay State hospitals this fiscal year, according to the association.

Stuart Street Playhouse is marquee destination for art-house cinema fans
By Brett Michel/Boston Herald – August 15, 2010

The Stuart Street Playhouse, the only art-house cinema in Boston proper, is nestled away on the corner of Charles and Stuart streets in the Theater District. It’s one of Boston’s newer – and simultaneously older – moviegoing destinations.

The site had been dormant since 1996, when the former Cinema 57 went dark after final showings of “The Great White Hype” and “Original Gangstas.”

It wasn’t always this way.

When Ben Sack originally opened the twin-screen Sack Cinema 57 in 1971, it featured some of the era’s biggest hits. Such films as “A Clockwork Orange” and “The Exorcist” had their local premieres here, as seen in the gallery of photos adorning the lobby of the renovated Stuart Street Playhouse, as it’s now known. The pictures showcase the movie-theater marquees of a thriving, bygone era in a city that once offered film lovers more than a dozen theater options – from the Astor to the Beacon Hill, the Saxon to the Cheri, the Savoy to the Music Hall.

1930 – The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks.  More anniversaries.