"Hack Holidays"

Those two Suffolk County holidays -- Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day -- that got extended to state employees in general either because the state offices are located in Suffolk County or through some kind of equity arrangement are under fire. They were saved by a narrow vote but there may be another try to eliminate them. As it goes, the days off are expensive, disruptive and difficult to justify, except that Evacuation Day falls on St. Patrick's Day and Bunker Hill celebrates a battle that was largely fought (and lost) on Breed's Hill.

Remember counties? Some were disestablished in a move to reform government. Suffolk was supposedly merged with municipal government (aka Boston). Only 7 out of the 14 counties actually went away. Hampshire and Franklin reinvented themselves as Councils of Governments and are now thought of as models for the regionalization proposals now being promoted out of the State House.