I agree, our roads, and bridges, sewer lines, water mains, and gas and electric systems are all aging badly. This latest event will cost us, the taxpayer, a lot of $ inasmuch as Columbia Gas will have to cough up the BIG BUCKS to pay out for the impeding law suits sure to occur. Man, can't we ever catch a break??

Not unless the taxpayers pay for it. You'll never get a company to fix their own ailing infrastructure. It will screw up all that profit for the shareholders.

AlexTheBlade - Is there anyone that doubts that this country needs to replace its aged and ailing infrastructure?

There should not be. BUT:

AlexTheBlade - Repair America and create jobs... shouldn't be a partisan issue, eh?

This IS a partisan issue. Go learn to do a Causative Timeline; I am tired of arguing with people that do not want to know the Facts and your own Research is more valuable to you than my spoon feeding all of you (you will not call yourselves Liars, Conspiracy Theorists, Wearing a Tin Foil Hat, Racists, Haters, etc..).

Voters
Politicians manipulate voters every day with half-truths -- or outright lies -- about taxes, spending and many other issues that directly affect the nation's prosperity.

Too many voters embrace feel-good propaganda that they want to hear instead of learning the basic facts about issues they care about. They should do a better job of calling out dishonest politicians -- and shunning media outlets that stoke political food fights.

http://money.msn.com/investing/11-things-wrong-with-congress

David,This IS a partisan issue. Go learn to do a Causative Timeline; I am tired of arguing with people that do not want to know the Facts and your own Research is more valuable to you than my spoon feeding all of you (you will not call yourselves Liars, Conspiracy Theorists, Wearing a Tin Foil Hat, Racists, Haters, etc

This has got nothing to do with weak infrastructure. This does have to do with it being the responsibility of the gas companies maintaining THEIR pipelines. If it were not for government regulation, the companies would use whatever is cheapest, not safest. And, thank you but I feed myself and my family just fine WITHOUT your nasty a$$ spoon.

so the cost to heat our homes goes up and up and up yet the delivery systems arent getting upgraded or maintained, where is the money going gas company?

Well maybe the stimulus money should have gone to the infrastructure instead of energy cos. that go bankrupt. Or maybe all those able persons on welfare can work for their handouts.

Alex, my thoughts exactly. It's not brain surgery to realize that we are descending in a third world nation because our priorities are all about me...screw you and your little infrastructure problems. I can afford to fix my own and couldn't be concerned in the least for fixing anything else...why should I? The Romney affect.

That is assuming it was an Infrastructure issue. Columbia Gas recently bought out Bay State Gas in the last couple of years and there is a big push towards conversion.

There is no doubt the country needs an infastructure upgrade. But in order to create those jobs that you speak of the government needs to do two things: The first is actually manage money correctly. All the taxes in the world don't solve a thing as long as we have a growing and wasteful government. All of those jobs that you speak of are created with money coming from businesses and private citizens. Unless the government can actually control itself, something it has had very little success with so far, those roads will not be fixed until the economy grows. Raising taxes now to create jobs that cannot be sustained over the long haul is only a temporary fix and done at the expense of an already ailing economy. Those of you that think that the tax rate should be returned to Clinton era levels are missing two key points; the first being that the economy was strong at that time and could handle the additional tax burdon. Secondly, in 2007, under the hated GW Bush, the country collected more tax revenue that year than any year in prior history. We can keep trying to squeeze what little juice is left in the orange by raising taxes now or we can grow the economy and fill the tax dole with more people paying into the system. We also have to face the fact that there are not enough people paying into the federal system and there are not enough "rich" people to fix the problem. The only hope is economic growth. We have had record spending and nothing to show for it. We tried it, and it didn't work. I don't want to double down on that bet.

@ Randy, there needs to be a balence between regultion and the free market. The US has slipped to the 18th most free market society in the world. That is not the place we need to be. Those regualtions that you seem to like at often misguided attempts by bureaucrats that seldom know anything about the industry they are regulating. For every positive regulation you can point to, I can find two that only get in the way. I am not against regulation, but having to deal with it in my business...all to often the regulation doesn't help the consumer and creates higher costs. I have a small business (less than 50 employees) and I must keep a full time person who's sole job is to manage often unneeded or misguided regulations. That is money I could be using to invest in my business and create more than just that one job.

It's much deeper than just REPAIR. People paid for services NOT RENDERRED in the 1950's and the younger generation in charge is billing residents for work paid for years ago on a new vote for new services. In Fernandina Beach, Fla. The Old Town area that was commercial fishermen and people that could stand the smell of Menhaden fish plants (Un-iced oily fish in rotting holds and BOILED putting out STINK to preocess the oil for perfumes, and the sludge for cat food,AND the sulfur dioxide smell of downwind of the papermills-po-folks-paid a little a month for a long long time to get off wells and septic tanks and be put on city water and sewer in the '50's. BUT IT NEVER HAPPENNED- so residents are being billed ANOTHER $5,000 each so a rich lawyer can build multi level Condominiums and get everyone else to pay for his water and sewage hook up. I'm sure it is happening all over the country where eminent domain is being used to steal private property so a big business can build a factory in their idea of a perfect location. Eminent Domains is SUPPOSED to be used for bridges and roads communities need, not businesses where the OWNERS make a profit and the family that cleared and settled the farm 200 years ago gets thrown out for a pittance. And you can't blame partisan politics for that. It came long before the family of Indonesian monkeys.

Yes but all people talk about is spending less money.

now thats a real "BLOWJOB" at the scores stripclub !!!

OMG I was thinking the same thing. When i heard this on the new my first thought was AGAIN. All of america is either crumbling apart or blowing up.

"I feel lucky we got out," said the dancer, identified only as Debbie. She said all her work clothes were lost.

Yeah, probably hard to find those little tassels in all of the debris...

Or maybe all those able persons on welfare can work for their handouts.

How much harder do you think they should have to work. They've made careers out of woring the system - that's no easy task. They've set up networks training friends and families how to manipulate it as well. They have no idea how to find the unemployment center but when the welfare and food stamp checks miss their due date they know exactly where to go.

And a traffic cop working 4 blocks away - clocked a GoGo boot doing 139mph.

I live about 1 mile away as the bird flies and could see the exposion smoke like 5 seconds after it happened from my house and it felt like a truck hit my house! The whole buiding is just GONE.

Naked or not get out! At least the owner is looking at the big picture.

Pipestar--"Secondly, in 2007, under the hated GW Bush, the country collected more tax revenue that year than any year in prior history"... Yes, and we were SPENDING about one BILLION dollars a week in Iraq and Afghanistan. I notice that many people screaming about government fiscal responsibility have a dead spot in their vision when it comes to the trillions of dollars of our tax money that is spent on the Military/Industrial Complex. I'm not going to go through all the numbers and rehash the enormous waste of money when these solid gold weapons systems become obsolete 10 years after their implementation or when we spend a quarter of a BILLION dollars on ONE new strike fighter, so let's look at one tiny little example. Remember the old war movies showing soldiers sitting on a crate while another G.I. hacked off their hair for an Army haircut? Remember? Well under that GW Bush Defense Dept. it was decided that we needed to hire a "private contractor" to give our soldiers a haircut. At $150 EACH !!! So yeah, we certainly need to control and maximize the efficacy of our government spending but I'm willing to bet we see very different ways of doing it...

" It came long before the family of Indonesian monkeys."

OK, Archie.

Instead of giving people a small money, food stamps and housing for doing nothing, the government (State and Federal) could do some work programs, that would benefit everyone, IF they pay them a livable wage.

We are too busy building up other countries to worry about taking care of our own..

I was thinking much the same thing. Doesn't sound like it could possibly be that much of a loss.

Still, it's not exactly warm here in New England this time of year.

the word is life Bob

Strippers aside, someone lost a building... and you're right URQ196...the word is life, and the other word is lose. BJ (nice moniker for this chimp) is a real Einstein!

Doesn't sound like it could possibly be that much of a loss.

You people haven't priced thongs lately have you? The Nasty Nightie industry has learned valuable maketing lessons from the health/organic food industry. The less you put in a product, the more you should charge.

While she was gathering her clothes, she said, the manager came up and told everyone, "I don’t care if you’re (expletive) naked or not, get out."

Now THAT'S some Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting... fact-gathering, credibility, timeliness, trustworthiness, the whole 9 yards. Nothing like interviewing an intelligent witness on the spot to get the story straight out of the horse's mouth. Or should I say "(expletive) naked" horse's mouth.

stripper clothes are very expensive.

those shoes with 8 inch heels are very expensive.

and the Dolly Parton wigs don't grow on trees.

We need to be thankful that none of the girls were injured. I must say to NBC, though, that THIS THREAD IS WORTHLESS WITHOUT PICTURES of the strippers.

The article is correct , it is the largest city in western Mass.

Springfield is in Western MA. I ought to know, I've lived here all my life. Good thing this happened after the Balloon Parade that was held this AM. Casualties would have been way worse.

Don-2405154, if you include Cape Cod, it is clearly in the Western third of the state by actual distance.

Turn your map around, you got it upside down

Springfield is considered Western, MA.

Worcester is Central Mass. Springfield is west.

San Fran and Sacramento are in the center but are referred to as NORCAL as opposed to L A being SOCAL.

What's wrong with CentCal?

Miami Dolphins are in the AFC EAST. Not the AFC south.

Dallas isn't in the west or the south they are NFC EAST.

Facts don't mean a thing these days.

you are bad, ;)

Nah...Romney is relaxing in the pool at his plush LaJolla estate thinking about closing down another factory for a quick 10 or 20 million for his Cayman bank account.

People get replaced all the time. Its called a new generation.......

's all, disgusting response, Bethel, good luck with that prayer thing, you are praying to something or someone that does not exist. Again, 's all, despicable reply, most distasteful, you are a pig, oh wait, I like pigs, you are just a lowlife sub human, how is your trailer looking? many broken appliances in your yard? cars? toilets still plugged with enter word here

To URQ196, I am sure that Bethel, and many others that believe in God are doing just fine, All of Humanity have up's and downs. We choose to believe the Bible is true, and in my personal life "The Prayer Thing" is working just fine. So try not to be so judgemental to everyone all the time.

^ Spot on 's all good!

It'd be funny if the blast was close enough to that idiot's house that it knocked over his brand new TV and now it's garbage...

I hope the girlfriend gets a wake-up call from this. Bad-boyfriend material, for sure. Yes, Springfield was busy today. Still a great part of the country in which to live.

What are you? A complete IDIOT!! This was a natural gas leak, not a Sarno terrorist attack on the entertainment section of downtown Spfld.

thought Holyoke was??

Pittsfield...

I would like to add another nominee: Worcester. If any city can hold the titles of Armpit of Massachusetts and Anus of Massachusetts at the same time, it's Worcester.

Been to Holyoke and Pittsfield, and have seen plenty to say they are worthy nominees. Anyone who's been to Pittsfield and taken a good look around knows why it's called Pittsfield.

Naw, Brockton has them all beat. Been suckin hind titee's for decades.

You folks are making Mass sound like a spider, or a centipede. How many armpits can one state have?

Springfield is absolutely a SCUM HOLE !!! NO LOSS

Southbridge gets my vote!

hahaha...I have to agree with ALL of you!

No, It is Romneys Fault.

No, it's your fault!

DUDE! What are you smokin????

That isn't a state law that nightclubs and bars stop serving and close at 2am?

Don't bother knockin if ya see the buildins a rockin!

Unless the building was 5000+ feet underground I have no clue what Fracking would have done to cause this.

I knew someone would ask this.....

newsgirl24

Near a fracking site??

You must of missed the part of the article where people reported smelling the stink of natural gas. The only way you can smell natural gas is when your gas company adds an odorant that smells like rotten eggs so gas leaks can be smelled. Had the gas come from any deep fracking, they would not have smelled it.

True,but that small fact gets in the way of their rants,so they ignore it.

Sounds like some fracking idiots.........

Geez! How come everybody else gets to throw out wacky suggestions except me??

Yes, that's why the next generation of nuclear subs will have plastic hulls.

Please, no poly pipes. They are much more prone to cracking, leaking, and failing then any metal. Just cheap and people buy the hype. Take tinme to research the failure and lawsuits through the years. This is what you get for deregulation on utilities.

Massachusetts is not a smart place to lay gas lines, if you're not asking for big problems. Just with water lines, there are always crews out repairing leaks. Massachusetts is endlessly and mercilessly laden with boulders, and rocks at every depth, every locations, of every size and kind. Hard shards of crumbled compressed bedrock, comprised of manganese, silicon, magnesium and iron containing rubble were churned up by the glaciers. Rocks were a nightmare for early farmers. With Massachusett's rockfields combined with loads of snow, ice, heavy rains, and temperatures varying from 10 below 0F to 100 F, these gas pipelines don't stand a chance. I'd never go natural gas. When gas became popular 40 years ago, everytime you turned around there were reports of gas explosions in Massachusetts.

Mother nature can take whatever pipe you toss at her, and bust it wide open on any given day. End of story.

Poland's navy would be very interested in those plastic hulled subs. They'd be a perfect complement to the glass bottom boats they use so they can see the Polish Air Force.

Plastic works OK for small lines but making large ones out of it are prohibitive for a number of reasons. You might be surprised a just how flexible steel is. But it can corrode and joint failure is an issue. Steel pipe can be lined and coated. If done right, big steel pipes can last a very long time.

No matter what the pipeline is made of, it eventually wears out and can still be subject to failure. The key is adequate inspections and maintenance. There are some tricks that allow liners to be installed inside existing lines, minimizing digging. Usually after some pipeline fails and all the analysis is done, it usually boils down to some issue that was either known or should have been known that leads to the failure. There are exceptions like those related to earthquakes or some damage caused by excavation.

Part of the problem with long buried lines is they tend to get covered up with all sorts of things built on top of them. It can get real expensive to dig these lines up and repair or replace them. The sad reality is that often it may be cheaper to run this stuff until failure. The cost to replace it is going to be pretty much the same either way. The longer you can keep from spending that money, the more that money can earn. You can buy high risk insurance and then help pay for any damages done. There is money to be saved by minimizing the amount of maintenance labor you spend. Big money. When the results of an inspection suggest that the chances of a failure are one in 10, that also means the chances things will be OK are 9 in 10. Then if you look at the odds that a failure will be a catastrophic one, it makes letting stuff go to failure pretty attractive.

This kind of thing will continue to happen at increasing frequencies until cost finally drives being pro-active. This is not just a pipeline issue but almost all infrastructure. There are some ways to make replacing infrastructure more attractive. This is where wise regulation can help. Some government incentives is one option, tax depreciation law and even punitive damages associated with failure. All these things can be played to encourage replacing worn out infrastructure before it fails.

If we don't start making progress very soon on replacing old infrastructure we will reach a point where the job becomes more massive than can be kept up with. To do these things right requires people with the right skills from the engineers to the hands on skilled labor. Nationwide that properly skilled workforce has shrunk dramatically from where it once was. It takes some time to build these skills and with demand for them low, few people are looking at that type career today.

The time is now to start going after infrastructure. Actually, the time was probably 5-10 years ago. We need to get going or very soon we will be facing numerous disruptions of infrastructure we count on every day and potentially life threatening failures.

Plastic or paper? Nothing will happen here until we get Iraq and Afganistan etc. etc. all "fixed up".

I'm just distressed that a good swear word from (the latest version of) Battlestar Galactica got hijacked.

Best frackin' sci-fi show in thirty years!

You should report them ASAP. But better have proof too!

They have been reported. But the utility commission isn't going to do anything until someone dies. That is the thought throughout the workers in the company.

Talk to the NTSB nutter, they are the federal authority that over see's pipeline transportation.

The gas company service vehicles have gas leak detectors for when there is a gas leak suspected. I've never seen natural or any other type of gasous fuel detectors on the shelf at stores like we see CO, heat, and smoke detectors. It would be a smart idea though. The gas companies, producing propane, methane, et cetera, add a noxious odorant to their gas to supposively make a gas leak easily detectable with only our olfactory senses.

I guess you never watched The China Syndrome.

Do you recall the explosion in california a few years back? After investigation, problems were found with the welding of the pipe such as welds were off center, welds not completed inside pipe as required. Information is free to examine at the NTSB's website.

Oil and Gas companies pay independent companies to put Pipelines in the ground. Those companies are contractually obligated to adhere to all State and Federal guidelines for Pipeline installations. Those companies sub contract weld inspectors and pipeline welders to do the work they are supposed to do. Every weld is supposed to be inspected. If a weld inspector doesn't do their job or doesn't catch bad welds whos at fault? The inspector signs off on everything and covers up the pipeline. No way to know if shoddy work was passed off or not until it finally fails under pressure. At that point is it the Oil and Gas companies fault? Or should it go back on the Welders and Weld inspectors? My guess would be most of you would say the Corp.

That is like saying a company is not responsible for insuring the products they sell are safe, whether it be autos, electric toasters, etc. would be safe no matter who or where the materials come from or labor is sub-contracted. It is the ultimate responsibility of the utility in this case to check the work. This information comes from the federal laws governing this. Again, go to the NTSB website.

50 Year old pipes are not up to the same standards that are currently installed, but they are still in use. I have x-ray weld repairs on buried 36" diameter naturual gas pipelines in California that were first put inn service during the 1930s...Not one bit of coating inside or out...California is criss crossed with thousands of miles of these lines this size and smaller..Buried out of site and out of mind that is untill one ruptures and ignites....

Blame the union.

Please tell me you are being sarcastic. If not I must tell you that it is not god you are referring to but his direct opposite. You are worshipping at the wrong altar.

No God doesn't punish in this way.

God doesn't punish in this way, but the comment is correct in inferring that sin and rebelliousness against God is currently under wrath and will be soon face ultimate judgment. Thankful that there was grace in no lives lost!

a

Exodus 34:6-7

God punishment.... .so that strip club should not rebuild again

There is nothing in the Bible that prohibits nudity or the erotic. A lot of strippers have excellent morals.

Just because you see a naked woman doesn't mean Satan is involved.

Now if she is married, and you're married, there is a problem.

It IMO is not punishment sent down from heaven, but it is very consistent with punishment resulting from an action of God. The "punishment" is the result of sin, meaning doing what's not good for us.

The problem with being addicted to vice/sin is in doing so the addicted neglects all else, like fire prevention. There's your punishment, God created order, we do our best to destroy it. If it wasn't for the order God maintains in spite of us I couldn't type the next key before

Gods not the villain or punisher, we are.

It IMO is not punishment sent down from heaven, but it is very consistent with punishment resulting from an action of God. The "punishment" is the result of sin,

Looking at naked women is not a sin nor is there a commandment that prevents it.

I have seen people lose their lives for adultery. ie. Winding up miserable and shooting themselves in the head. I have never seen someone lose their life or wind up miserable tucking a dollar bill in a strippers bikini.

They have been smited! Glory be to God!

Yes, the one GOP Governor in the last how many years in Mass. so you blame him.

The truth is, the government, state, local and federal, often asks for more money for infrastructure. When they get the money, they immediately spend it on everything but, then let the infrastructure keep crumbling and after they have blown the last bunch of money they ask for more.

Also, anyone who thinks Massachusetts spends money well on infrastructure should look at the boondoggle and cost overrun laden monster that the "Big Dig" was.

H addict..

Well since we(man) created God you are correct in your last statement...

"One party doesn't see it that way"???? I've been around a long time and have NEVER seen either party cut off funding to all other countries so they can spend it here in the USA. The government has made it so it is advantageous for the foreign country in the long run to be blown up and rebuilt by us. When we are done, it is all new and the latest technology, should they choose to embrace it.

"Clean-burning" natural gas. We should run our whole society on natural gas and nuke plants. That would be really smart.