Title: Boston Globe Page One Podcast for Mar 16, 2009

" Thank you for downloading today's podcast from the newsroom of the Boston global. Here's a look at today's top stories."

" Hello it's Monday march 16. -- foyer. Joblessness are accelerating in every corner of the construction industry in Massachusetts. Globe business writer Casey Ross reports that thousands of carpenters. Iron workers and electricians. Are scrounging for work has a sharp economic downturn -- progress on new homes. Office towers and retail stores. Employment among construction workers his dam by 23000. Jobs statewide. Reflecting a Russian layoffs as building projects go idle across the state. The slowdown intensified in the last three months. When the number of construction jobs dropped by more than 10000 spots statewide according to state employment data. And as a result skilled and unskilled workers are being forced to compete for an ever dwindling pool of jobs. Libraries are more popular than ever right now. But some Massachusetts residents of -- risks losing many of their borrowing rights. As their cities and towns consider cutting library budgets below minimum levels set by the state. Globe reporter Eric Moskowitz writes it cuts that -- Jeopardize the library certification. With the board of library commissioners. And can trigger a double penalty. They no longer be eligible for the state grants at ground out local library budgets. And their residents would no longer be allowed to borrow from most other public libraries. Last month the state boards stripped certification from four towns. Freetown Hubbardston Norton and where Graham. Because of cuts they've made in 2000 and Nate. And those budget reductions had been mate even before most cities and towns were reeling financially from the recession. In the coming fiscal year which starts July 1 dozens more communities notably brought him. Might no longer be able to make that threshold for spending and staff finance their library. However the state board can Graham waivers to preserve the library certification. As long as a community can demonstrate that the library budget wasn't singled out for I'm usually deep cuts. Wild rejoicing erupted in Islamabad. Early today amid news reports said Pakistan's government will capitulate to protesters demands. To reinstate a popular Chief Justice who was fired by former president Pervez musharraf's. The Los Angeles Times says word of the reversal by president see follies are Dari. He came as a huge caravan of protesters for dam on the capital in defiance of government ban. So the government's decision to back down averted what could have been a bloody confrontation. Between police and the protesters. A large crowd following opposition leader now lives Sherif. The deal to reinstate the fired justice if -- Mohamad shell country. Within the coming week resolves a political drama that has threatened to undermine those are Gary government. That -- V -- also positions Sharif as the country's undisputed king maker. Fiery and combative. The two time former prime minister is considerably less western friendly than their diary. -- has close links to Islamist parties. With child obesity at an -- NN national high health regulators in Massachusetts are expected to mandate next month that every public school student be weighed and measured. Globe science writer Stephen Smith reports that the data will provide parents with this snapshot showing whether their child he's headed toward a serious medical problem. Screenings every three years starting in first grade would begin this fall in some schools and next year in the rest. State health officials have taken their model child wait monitoring program that's shown success in Arkansas since it was launched six years ago. But doctors and nurses who run the program in the southern state stressed that Massachusetts must conduct the screenings in in discreet way. To minimize episodes of teasing. And to prevent the possibility that the focus on the way he could set -- dangerous behavior. In children and predispose to anorexia. Cock fight raids are rare especially in New England. But since 2005. Police near Hartford have made at least five major cockfighting bust -- water prairie. The globes Keith O'Brien reports that about eighty people have been arrested in the past four years and Connecticut for cock fighting. And more than a hundred roosters and thousands of dollars have been seized. Officials -- the bloody practice of cock fighting which is illegal in all fifty states. To an influx of Hispanic immigrants. Because so many of those arrested in raids are Hispanic. And cock fighting and abetting -- company said. Are popular and legal in Puerto Rico. The Dominican Republic and Mexico. But Connecticut officials point out that to judge from new arrests that cock fights are drying many spectators from out of state. Including Massachusetts. The humane society condemns cock fighting and tired because it results from the fraud and painful deaths of roosters. For the sake of human profits and entertainment. Also in the globe today a bomb killed four US soldiers in eastern Afghanistan. During the day of violence that claimed eighteen lives around the country. In sports the March Madness brackets are published today and there's something for everyone if you like college basketball. Boston College starts its perennial quest for the match up this weekend against southern cal in Minneapolis. It will be noticeably cooler today than yesterday but dry and still partly sunny. And tomorrow we're supposed to go back up into the fifties all the better for Saint Patrick's Day. Thanks for stopping by Mike -- Have a good day."

" That's a summary of today's top stories from the Boston Globe for a closer look pick up today's paper. Or go to boston.com. Slash school."