Declare Your Curiosity

If she wins her lawsuit it could be a game changer for all smokers who enjoy lighting up in their own homes especially if they live in a multi unit condo or apartment complex.

32 year old Alyssa Burrage is in court today suing her realtor.   He showed her a place she loved except for the smell of smoke.  She says the realtor said paint would make that go away.  It didn’t.  Turned out the smoke was second hand coming from her new downstairs neighbors.

 

Her asthma got bad; she moved out and leased her new home.  Instead of selling and running, she stood her ground and sued.  The tenants below settled rather than going to court, but the realtor isn’t backing down.  If this goes to trial and he loses the floodgates could be wide open for more of these kinds of lawsuits.

 

Do you agree with Burrage and her lawsuit?  Or should she have known the first time she smelled smoke that this wasn’t the place for her?

 

Tell us your thoughts and we’ll talk about it today at 5pm on WBZ News.

I'm curious about what happens to the pre-made championship hats and t-shirts of the losing Super Bowl team?
	Jonathan, Amherst, NH

Getty Images

As a kid, did you ever wonder how they made those "world champion" shirts so quickly? OK, maybe it was just me. Anyway, just in case you hadn't figured this out yet, they do make world champion hats and shirts for both teams, but you never see the ones that are rendered erroneous by the outcome of the game. Dan Roche knows what happens to them:

This year, a charity called World Vision is distributing the hats and t-shirts that were made up if the Colts won to the people of Haiti.

Each year, the NFL makes sure that the items are sent to a third world country or those desperately in need.

Click here to find more information about World Vision, and to make a donation. (They accept cash too.)

When we moved here from the midwest 3 years ago, I become curious about specific phenomenon in this area. For example, why the signage (e.g., roads, buildings, airport, etc.) is so lousy, especially when so many tourists pass through each year. Pre-GPS, I would go for miles and not know on what road I was traveling. Also, I am also curious about why when I wave to neighbors, they do not wave back.

Cindy, Canton

How often have you been driving around unfamiliar territory, and thought to yourself, "what street am I on," then looked up to find there's no street sign where there should be one? You're not the only one.

Boston's bad signage is a well-known and oft-complained-about problem. There's even a non-profit called Lost in Boston whose mission is to make the city more navigable for tourists. Good luck with that. It seems the state has other priorities.

But that's not the only surprise that greets newcomers to our area. Many are shocked to find our reputation for bad (or shall we say-- aggressive) driving is indeed well-earned. Then there's the impenetrable slang, bizarre political scene, and of course, the near-obsession with policemen at construction sites.

But what do you think newcomers to the Boston area should be warned about? What will they find here that's unique? If you moved here from somewhere else, what do you wish someone had told you beforehand?

If you like to use your phone and drive, text and drive, read email and drive, beware... it may become illegal in Massachusetts. The House last night overwhelmingly approved a ban cell phone/text ban 146 to 9. Now this bill goes on to the Senate.

 

So much attention and heat has been focused on lawmakers to do something and now they seem to be moving in that direction.

 

The bill says "no operator of a motor vehicle shall use a mobile telephone, mobile electronic device or other device capable of accessing the internet to compose, send or read an electronic message while operating" a motor vehicle. First offense? A $100.00 fine.

 

Do you like this idea? Go too far, not far enough? How exactly are police going to enforce this if it becomes law.

 

Tell us your thoughts and we’ll talk about it today at 5pm on WBZ News.

Fact:  -She is here illegally and living in subsidized housing.

          -She over stayed her visa and has been asked to leave the country but has refused.

          -She fought for asylum in 2003 but was denied.

          -She is President Obama’s Aunt Zeituni Polly Onyango.

 

This morning Aunt Zeituni is behind closed doors arguing once again for asylum.  This time she’s asking for it on medical conditions.  She was wheeled into the closed door hearing in a wheelchair.

 

Millions of illegal immigrants are in this Country.  Many have been deported, many have not.   We don't know how common or uncommon her case is, but she is the most famous illegal immigrant right now because of her nephew.   Is Aunt Zeituni getting preferential treatment because of her famous nephew?  Mr. Obama said he didn’t even know she was living in the country in public housing illegally and says he's refusing to get involved.

 

Should she be allowed to stay, or shown the door? 

 

Tell us your thoughts and we’ll talk about it today at 5pm on WBZ News.

Like it or not, they are coming. Supertankers from Yemen loaded with millions of gallons of liquefied natural gas steaming into Boston Harbor later this month. Any supertanker docking in Everett is a safety concern, but when the load is coming from Yemen that seems to change a few things.

 

A Time magazine article recently looked into Yemen being a new staging ground for Al-Qaeda. The group in Yemen actually claimed responsibility for trying to blow up the Northwest flight on Christmas day in Detroit. Remember, it was in Yemen that terrorists targeted the U.S.S. Cole blowing a hole in the destroyer killing 17 sailors. 

 

With that said, now we are in business with this country. Huge shipments of gas will be floated into our harbor.

 

Many, including Mayor Menino, don’t like this arrangement now matter how much security is promised.

 

Do you feel comfortable with as much as 33 million gallons of liquefied natural gas sailing into our city from a country that seems to be a hotbed for terrorism?

 

Tell us your thoughts and we’ll talk about it today at 5pm on WBZ News

For nine years, the Cape Wind Farm has been talked about, researched, debated, protested, encouraged, you name it. Cape Wind Associates have dealt with it all and still not one turbine is spinning.  That could soon change.  The Secretary of the Interior is meeting today with Native American leaders, and taking a boat tour of where the site would be built in Nantucket Sound.

 

A little background: This project would consist of 130 turbines each standing 285 feet high, but built 5 miles off the coast of the cape.  All the spinning will generate ¾ of the cape’s power needs.  The project will also create jobs.  But this 900 million dollar plan has been fought every step of the way by groups that don’t want the turbines going up in their backyard.

 

With President Obama in favor of a wind farm, it seems that all the hurdles and setbacks may be coming to an end.

 

Questions for you...  Are you in favor of this wind farm going up?  If you said yes and you don’t live on the Cape then would you be in favor of this kind of farm going up close to where you live?

 

Tell us your thoughts and we’ll talk about it today at 5pm on WBZ News.

If pot can be legally possesed, what's to stop unsuspecting people being under the influence due to second hand smoke? Will politicians wise up, and ban smoking anything, in any public place, illegal? I don't want to go to the beach and have to worry about wether the group of kids next to me are wafting tobacco or pot smoke my way!
	Emily, Wenham

OK, despite the new head shops--er, I mean, functional glass shops-- that may have opened up in your neighborhood lately, pot is still illegal in Massachusetts. However, news of new restrictions on smoking the old-fashioned stuff (or new-fashioned, depending on your point of view) has many smokers worried their bad habit will be outlawed as well.

This new ban on smoking in public housing has many tobacco smokers worried that the Bay State is going the way of California. Out there, it seems like every day there's a new law banning smoking in a new place. For many years now, public opinion has been turning against smokers, who are starting to feel like a persecuted minority. Others point out that their habit is undoubtedly destroying their health, and possibly endangering others'.

Do you think it's a slippery slope? Is banning smoking in public housing the first step toward California-style laws? More importantly, would you be OK with that?