1965 – Launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Crew-member Ed White performs the first American spacewalk.  More anniversaries.
Wilkerson to enter guilty plea – Former senator faces 32 charges in bribery case
By Jonathan Saltzman and Adrian Walker – Globe Staff / June 3, 2010

Dianne Wilkerson, a former state senator from Boston who was once considered a rising political star in Democratic politics, plans to plead guilty today to charges in a federal corruption case, averting a high-profile trial that was scheduled to start later this month.

“There will be a plea tomorrow,’’ her lawyer, Max D. Stern of Boston, said yesterday. “I cannot tell you anything else.’’
Stern declined to say what charge or charges Wilkerson will plead guilty to in the agreement with federal prosecutors at the 2 p.m. hearing before US District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock, nor would he say whether she will be sentenced to prison.
The plea deal would end a case that toppled the only black member of the state Senate and raised the specter of old-fashioned corruption and influence-peddling in the State House and City Hall.

Wilkerson faces 32 charges of allegedly taking bribes totaling $23,500 to secure a liquor license for a nightclub and legislation to pave the way for a commercial development in Roxbury. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, according to federal prosecutors. But she is likely to face considerably less time in prison by pleading guilty.

Striking Shaw’s Workers Complete March for Justice with Prudential Center Picket
by Jason Pramas (Open Media BostonStaff), Jun-01-10

BOSTON/Back Bay – Completing a 5-day, 60-mile march, striking workers from the Shaw’s Distribution Center in Methuen, Mass. and their supporters arrived at the Shaw’s supermarket at the Prudential Center for a picket and rally on Thursday. Over 100 people gathered in front of 2 entrances to the store for about an hour – demanding that Shaw’s management on-site come out and talk to them, and telling passers-by to boycott the chain.
According to United Food and Commercial Workers Local 791, the labor union representing workers at the Methuen distribution center, Shaw’s cut off health coverage for over 300 of their members on April 1st – 3 weeks into a strike over Shaw’s insistence that the workers “bear all the burden of increasing health care costs.” The union states that “many of the workers have spouses or young children with serious medical conditions.”
When negotiations between Shaw’s and the union resumed on May 2nd, the company rejected a contract offer than UFCW says met some of their demands. At that point, union leaders and labor support organizations like Mass. Jobs with Justice decided hold a march to take their case to the public.
Organizers were pleased at the positive response to the march by the public, the press and government officials – including a supportive appearance by Lt. Gov. Tim Murray (D) at State House rally just before the Prudential picket. Sen. John Kerry (D), Rep. Michael Capuano (D), Gov. Deval Patrick (D), and NH Gov. John Lynch (D) have all issued statements asking Shaw’s to bargain in good faith, and restore health care to the striking workers and their families.

Tsunami heading here
[From Paul Levy's blog, Running a Hospital] – Wednesday, June 02, 2010

With the speed of tidal changes in the Bay of Fundy, word is now arriving at hospitals throughout the state that they will be given rate decreases in their current contract renewals.

Think about this. These hospitals face increases in salaries and wages for their nurses and other staff (sometimes as contractual commitments in collective bargaining agreements) and increases in the cost of goods and supplies needed for patient care.

Insurers say, in essence, “That’s not our problem.”

Well, it is your problem. Insurers do not deliver care. They are financial intermediaries who add little value to the provision of health care*. If they cut the resources needed by hospitals, they will affect communities throughout the state.

By communities, I mean people. Workers at hospitals. Patients and families in the cities and towns.

An ambitious opening number – 17 shows on tap for ArtsEmerson
By Geoff Edgers – Globe Staff / June 2, 2010

With the first season of Arts-Emerson: The World on Stage, Robert Orchard aims to change the landscape of Boston’s theater scene dramatically.

Established by Emerson College, ArtsEmerson will present offerings from around the world at the Cutler Majestic Theatre and Emerson’s recently renovated Paramount Center on Washington Street. The complex, which opened in March after a $92 million renovation, includes the 590-seat Paramount Theatre; the flexible Black Box Theatre, which can hold up to 150 seats; and the 170-seat Bright Family Screening Room.
ArtsEmerson’s inaugural season, which kicks off in September, features an ambitious slate of 17 productions, including the world premiere of “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later,’’ a celebration of director Peter Brook, an Irish festival featuring the world premiere of a play about Rose Kennedy, and Boston premieres from Elevator Repair Service, puppeteer Basil Twist, the Civilians, and choreographer Doug Elkins and Friends, whose “Fraulein Maria’’ is a playfully skewed version of “The Sound of Music’’ complete with cross-dressing nuns and hip-hop dancers.
“I think this is the most significant initiative in Boston theater in 30 years, since the founding of the American Repertory Theater,’’ said Orchard, Emerson’s executive director of the arts. Orchard formerly served as the longtime executive director of Harvard’s ART.