Latest news with #Wilkins
Boston Globe
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Herbert P. Wilkins, former chief justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court, dies at 95
'If you ask me who was the most significant chief justice certainly Herbert Wilkins would be a standout,' she said. 'I say that not only in the Commonwealth, but nationwide. He was an extraordinary man.' Justice Wilkins, who also was committed to public service on community boards and with influential legal organizations before and after his years on the bench, was 95 when he died Tuesday at home in Concord. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In rulings and in private conversations, Justice Wilkins was known for his brevity and clarity. His humor was also often present, even on the bench. Advertisement A 'Wilkins ruling' had certain hallmarks, said 'It's brief, it's concise, it says what it means to say,' she said of his opinions, which he wrote from draft to finish. His clerks submitted memoranda for him to review. 'He was not a man of many words, but each word counted,' she said, 'and he also was very funny and had a dry wit.' Advertisement In 1996, when Justice Wilkins was scheduled to be sworn in as chief justice in the governor's office, he noted in an interview that it was the same place where he had taken the oath as an associate justice in 1972. It also was the same place where his father, Raymond S. Wilkins, was sworn in as an SJC associate justice and later as chief justice. 'So it's going to be a four-fer,' Justice Wilkins told The Boston Globe. Then he joked that he had picked Though nominated to be an SJC associate justice by 'In my view, our state Constitution tells us today that the state may not engage in the senseless killing of a murderer, even though he is by definition a person who has committed a senseless killing himself,' His more nationally lasting impact involved helping place the SJC at the cutting edge from the mid-1970s onward in issuing state Constitution rulings that more forcefully protected individual rights during an era when the US Supreme Court generally was not doing so. 'I rather regard it as an anchor to the windward to protect people's rights that we should all be in favor of,' Justice Wilkins said in a 1986 interview. Advertisement Justice Wilkins 'understood that state constitutions were terribly important,' Marshall said, and by doing so was 'was among the most highly regarded jurists among state jurists.' From the outset as chief justice, he worked amiably with the state Legislature. That close work with lawmakers helped spur appropriations to build and rehabilitate courts across the state, Marshall said. 'That was a singular achievement that nobody else had been able to do,' she said. Marshall added that Justice Wilkins also tried to ensure that legal assistance would be made more available to state residents who couldn't afford a lawyer when they found themselves caught up in complex court matters. The current Supreme Judicial Court justices 'As a jurist, he was known for his incisive rulings and meticulous attention to detail,' the statement said. 'His respectful and polite demeanor on and off the bench earned him the respect and admiration of all who worked with him. The people of the Commonwealth are fortunate that a person of his intellect, dignity, and commitment to justice was willing to devote his talents in their service.' The youngest of three siblings, Herbert Putnam Wilkins was born on Jan. 10, 1930, and grew up in Winchester. His mother, Mary Louisa Aldrich Wilkins, died in 1954, the year Justice Wilkins graduated from Harvard Law School. His father, Advertisement Before joining the SJC in 1972, the year after Raymond died, Justice Wilkins followed in his father's footsteps as a Harvard College and Harvard Law graduate. A decades-long resident of Concord, he was town counsel for Concord and Acton and chaired Concord's Board of Selectmen before becoming a judge. A Phillips Exeter Academy graduate, he formerly served on his alma mater's board of trustees and as president of the Harvard University Board of Overseers. Justice Wilkins also was a member of the council of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He also had been the 'He took his obligations seriously,' said Justice Wilkins joined the Palmer & Dodge law firm after law school and was a partner from 1960 until becoming a judge. In 1952, he married Angela Middleton, an internationally recognized expert in addressing learning disabilities and teaching those with dyslexia to read. When he met with reporters in July 1996, after Weld nominated him to lead the SJC, Justice Wilkins spoke with pride about Angela's work and said he believed he would be the first chief justice whose wife worked full time. With his four children, Justice Wilkins 'tried to instill a sense of social responsibility to do right by others, an obligation that we're all in this together,' said his son Advertisement Douglas's siblings are Stephen of Gloucester, an educator; In addition to his wife and children, Justice Wilkins leaves eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. A celebration of his life will be announced. Justice Wilkins 'was a very, very kind man and I think he hired kind clerks,' said Dolberg, who added that the judge and his wife invited former clerks to gather for lunch each year around his birthday. One by one, all stood each year to discuss and update their careers, becoming an extended family through the annual gatherings, inspired by his life and work. 'We were so full of gratitude,' Dolberg said. 'We really felt he had been an amazing mentor and that he had helped guide us in our careers.' Bryan Marquard can be reached at
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hawks Legend Speaks on Kevin Durant's Legacy
Hawks Legend Speaks on Kevin Durant's Legacy originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant's legacy has long been a subject of fan debate. Since leaving the Golden State Warriors in 2019, the teams he's joined have struggled to reach the NBA Finals. This lack of deep playoff runs has fueled criticism, with fans questioning his legacy in the league. Advertisement Former Atlanta Hawks star Dominique Wilkins was asked his thoughts about Durant's legacy. Kyle Odegard of ESports Insider interviewed the Hawks legend earlier this week and had plenty of questions. One of Odegard's inquiries was about the 15-time All-Star. Given that Wilkins was once an All-Star in the NBA, he knew the impact the two-time champion had in the league. Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels dribbles while defended by Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Zanine-Imagn Images According to the former nine-time All-Star, KD has nothing left to prove in the league. "He's put his mark on the game. Kevin Durant doesn't need to prove anything to anybody about how great he is. He's one of the greatest players to ever play the game, one of the greatest scorers ever. He doesn't have to prove anything. Everything else is gravy," Wilkins said. Advertisement Additionally, Wilkins weighed in on Durant's looming offseason move. After the Suns missed the postseason, many have predicted that the star forward will force his way out of Phoenix and join a different franchise. According to The Human Highlight Film, he thinks KD should be comfortable with what he's won with the Warriors. Moving around "would be taxing" to Durant's body, given that he's already 36. Like KD, Wilkins had an impactful career in the NBA. During his prime years, he was one of the best athletes and often went toe-to-toe with Michael Jordan's athleticism. The former All-Star forward spent 12 years with the Hawks, leading them to numerous playoff appearances. Unfortunately for Atlanta, Wilkins couldn't provide a championship to the city. Still, his impact and legacy remain alive in the organization. He averaged 26.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists with the franchise. Advertisement Wilkins' No. 21 jersey was retired by the Hawks in 2001. Related: Three-Team NBA Trade Idea Has Lakers Cut Ties With Fan Favorite This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on May 30, 2025, where it first appeared.
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Former chief justice of SJC, Herbert P. Wilkins, dies at 95
Wilkins died Tuesday, the statement said. Wilkins was a Harvard University graduate, and editor of the Harvard Law Review, who went on to chair Concord's Board of Selectman for six years in the early '60s and to work as town counsel in Acton and Concord in the late '60s and early '70s. 'Appointed in 1972, Justice Wilkins served on the Supreme Judicial Court with great distinction for almost three decades,' the justices said in their collective statement. 'As a jurist, he was known for his incisive rulings and meticulous attention to detail,' the statement said. 'His respectful and polite demeanor on and off the bench earned him the respect and admiration of all who worked with him.' 'The people of the Commonwealth are fortunate that a person of his intellect, dignity and commitment to justice was willing to devote his talents in their service,' the justices said. Advertisement They offered their 'deep condolences' to Wilkins' family. When Wilkins was nominated as chief justice in July 1996, he had been an associate justice for 24 years, the longest tenure of any associate at the time. Governor William F. Weld appointed Wilkins to the position later that year. Wilkins served as chief justice until he retired in 1999. In retirement, Wilkins taught law at Boston College. Advertisement Wilkins followed in his father's footsteps. Both men graduated from Harvard, and Raymond Sanger Wilkins also served as chief justice of the state's high court, from 1956 to 1970. The younger Wilkins earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard in 1951 and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard law School in 1954. Before he was a judge, Wilkins was an associate and partner in the Palmer & Dodge law firm in Boston. It was while Wilkins was chair of the planning board in Concord that the National Historic Sites Commission set its sights on the Lexington and Concord area for the creation of a national park. At that point, Wilkins said he 'was already deeply involved with the plans for the park,' according to In January 1959, Wilkins 'outlined the general scheme' for the park for the Concord Journal, which included a map 'which is pretty much along the lines of exactly what the park now consists of,' Wilkins said in the interview. Nine months later, on Sept. 21, 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill establishing Minute Man National Historical Park as a national park. As a jurist, Wilkins was twice recognized by the Boston Bar Association. In 1991, the association presented Wilkins with the prestigious Haskell Cohn Award for distinguished judicial service, and in 1997 he received a citation of judicial excellence. Wilkins is a former president of Harvard College's board of overseers and former trustee of Milton Academy and Phillips Exeter Academy. No information was immediately available about funeral services. Advertisement Tonya Alanez can be reached at
The Spinoff
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending May 30
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books' stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Air by John Boyne (Doubleday, $35) The conclusion to Boyne's four-part Elements Series and so far, so good over on Good Reads where 2402 ratings give it an average of 4.47 stars. 2 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26) Last year's Booker Prize winner. This year's Booker longlist is due on 29 July. 3 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) The 2025 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction winner! My heart is still pumping after that hair-raising ceremony in which Wilkins was delayed until the very last moment when he literally ran onto the stage to make his acceptance speech. Read a day-after-the-night-before interview with Wilkins right here on The Spinoff. 4 Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (Penguin Random House, $65) The people love Macfarlane and his nature writing. 5 M urriyang: Song of Time by Stan Grant (Simon and Schuster, $47) Remember when Stan Grant took the stage at Auckland Writers Festival's gala night and was simply outstanding? Grant is an indigenous Australian writer and journalist and an astonishing, moving storyteller. 6 1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin, $38) 'Reading it was just like being back in Auckland, growing up on the streets of Grey Lynn and hoping you might be able to scab some money off your mates and hit up the 562 Takeaway (made famous by appearing on the cover of Hoey's poetry collection 'I Thought We'd Be Famous'). OK, yeah, Hoey and I grew up in Auckland a few decades apart, but reading this felt like looking back on a childhood diary that myself or any one of my friends could have written.' Read more of The Spinoff's Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Claire Mabey's thoughts on this propulsive new novel, here. 7 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $38) One of the bestselling books of 2024 looks to do the same this 2025. 8 Girl On Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Woman Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert (John Murray, $40) Here's the publisher's explanation: 'What happened to feminism in the twenty-first century? This question feels increasingly urgent in a moment of cultural and legislative backlash, when widespread uncertainty about the movement's power, focus, and currency threatens decades of progress. Sophie Gilbert identifies an inflection point in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the energy of third-wave and 'riot grrrl' feminism collapsed into a regressive period of hyper-objectification, sexualization, and infantilization. Mining the darker side of nostalgia, Gilbert trains her keen analytic eye on the most revealing cultural objects of the era, across music, film, television, fashion, tabloid journalism, and more. What she recounts is harrowing, from the leering gaze of the paparazzi to the gleeful cruelty of early reality TV and a burgeoning internet culture vicious toward women in the spotlight and damaging for those who weren't. Gilbert tracks many of the period's dominant themes back to the rise of internet porn, which gained widespread influence as it began to pervade our collective consciousness. The result is a devastating portrait of a time when a distinctly American blend of excess, materialism, and power worship collided with the culture's reactionary, puritanical, and chauvinistic currents. Amid a collective reconsideration of the way women are treated in public, Girl on Girl is a blistering indictment of the matrix of misogyny that undergirded the cultural production of the early twenty-first century, and continues to shape our world today.' 9 Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art by Deidre Brown & Ngarino Ellis with Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Auckland University Press, $100) Winner of the Bookhub Award for Illustrated Nonfiction at this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Awards! Read about how the writers approached this ground-breaking book, here. 10 Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth (HarperCollins, $35) 'On the first morning of their holiday together in a remote part of Scotland, 42-year-old Sarah convinces her younger sister, Juliette, to clamber on to the roof of their mobile home for a better phone signal,' writes Shahidha Bari on The Guardian. 'Juliette has three layers of tinfoil wrapped around her limbs and a tinfoil cone hat plonked on her head before she clocks that she's fallen for a prank. It's a pleasing bit of sibling slapstick in Slags, the new novel from Emma Jane Unsworth about desire, dissatisfaction and the ferocious loyalty of sisters. And sisterhood, as Unsworth writes it here, is an unbreakable connection for which no prank antenna is needed.' WELLINGTON 1 Slowing the Sun | Essays by Nadine Hura (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Spinoff readers may well be familiar with Nadine Hura's insightful essays. This is an outstanding collection, a long time in the making. Here's what the publisher says: 'In the midst of grief, Hura works through science, pūrākau, poetry and back again. Seeking to understand climate change in relation to whenua and people, she asks: how should we respond to what has been lost? Her many-sided essays explore environmental degradation, social disconnection and Indigenous reclamation, insisting that any meaningful response must be grounded in Te Tiriti and anti-colonialism.' 2 This Compulsion In Us by Tina Makereti (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $40) What a week for Aotearoa books! Tina Makereti's long-awaited collection of nonfiction is exquisite. Read an excerpt from This Compulsion In Us on The Spinoff, here. 3 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) 4 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) The Auckland Writers Festival's bestselling book and the first in New Zealand to reach 1000 sales in 2025 (are you surprised by that number?). It's a stonkingly good tale about an alternate England of the 1970s. Sinister, thought-provoking and gripping. Read books editor Claire Mabey's review right here. 5 Wonderland by Tracy Farr (Cuba Press, $38) Tracy Farr fans rejoice! We've another compelling novel from the author of The Lives and Loves of Lena Gaunt, and The Hope Fault. Here's the blurb for Wonderland: 'Te Motu Kairangi Miramar Peninsula, Wellington 1912. Doctor Matti Loverock spends her days and nights bringing babies into the world, which means her daughters – seven-year-old triplets Ada, Oona and Hanna – have grown up at Wonderland, the once-thriving amusement park owned by their father, Charlie. Then a grieving woman arrives to stay from the other side of the world, in pain and incognito, fleeing scandal. She ignites the triplets' curiosity and brings work for Matti, diverting them all from what is really happening at Wonderland. In a bold reimagining, Marie Curie – famous for her work on radioactivity – comes to Aotearoa and discovers both solace and wonder.' 6 Tackling the Hens by Mary McCallum (Cuba Press, $25) Local hero Mary McCallum's latest poetry book tackles hens … 'Hens can be fun visitors, when they gossip and sunbathe and pop inside for a chat, but they can outstay their welcome and tackling them to send them home isn't easy,' reads the charming blurb. 'They aren't the only creatures in the pages of this book— there's Ursula the golden-eyed cat, a leporine emperor, singing mice and all the swallows! Then there are the people who interact with them: an entomologist in love with the spiders he observes, a builder who releases a trapped mouse, a woman who attracts bees as a flower does—and Mary and the hens, of course.' 7 The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Jonathan Cape, $38) Vuong is unstoppable. This latest work is already a TikTok sensation and massive bestseller. Here's the blurb: 'One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to alter Hai's relationship to himself, his family, and a community at the brink.'
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Perth Now
‘Smoke-free': Big call on major tourist strip
A major thoroughfare running through one of South Australia's star beach suburbs could soon be a smoke-free zone. Port Adelaide and Enfield councillors voted unanimously this month for a report into making the western section Semaphore Rd, which connects Semaphore Beach and its famous jetty with a line of shops and restaurants, free of cigarettes and vapes. Semaphore councillor David Wilkins proposed the motion and told NewsWire this week a Semaphore local had asked the council to consider the ban. 'We actually had a local resident reach out to our mayor, who raised the concept of it,' he said. 'The resident is particularly passionate about it because she lost her father in 2020 to sinus cancer, which they have shared with us, was likely caused by passive smoking. 'As a result of that, she's asked whether we can put in smoke free areas, so we're protecting people in the community.' Semaphore lies in Adelaide's western district, bordering Port Adelaide to the east and West Lakes to the South. It's a popular tourist spot, with the foreshore clock tower, jetty and steam train rides that run from the beach to Fort Glanville and back all drawing in families from the city and interstate. Semaphore is a popular beachside suburb in Adelaide's west. Duncan Evans / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia The proposed smoke-free zone would cover the western section of Semaphore Rd. Google Maps Credit: News Corp Australia The retro Odean Star cinema also sits on Semaphore Rd alongside eateries like Zambrero and Yo-Chi. Mr Wilkins said a smoke ban would elevate the strip's attractiveness even further. 'We've got the beach, the cinema, it's very much a place we want to encourage people to come and visit,' he said. 'This proposal would really help create a welcoming environment to come and visit and support our local traders.' Staffers will now prepare a report and interview businesses on the thoroughfare to gauge their position, including the pubs that serve the strip. 'I think it will likely be supported because it's about encouraging people to come and visit,' Mr Wilkins said. Staff will also investigate whether the council has the legal authority to implement the proposed ban. Cancer Council SA senior manager for prevention Christine Morris praised the idea. Semaphore Rd hosts a range of popular eateries. Duncan Evans / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia 'It's fantastic to hear that local councils are taking a proactive approach to keeping South Australians safe from the harmful effects of smoking, by making more public spaces smoke-free,' she told NewsWire. 'South Australia is leading the nation in providing smoke-free spaces since new laws were introduced last year and we welcome continued action to protect community members from exposure to second-hand smoking, especially vulnerable people and children.' Semaphore already has some smoke-free zones. In 2021, Mr Wilkins organised a ban on smoking outside public buildings such as libraries and community centres. 'It just makes it such a more welcoming and inviting environment,' he said. The City of Port Adelaide Enfield council areas covers a vast portion of Adelaide's north, stretching from Klemzig in the east to Semaphore in the west and the Osborne naval shipyard in the north.
