Town meeting members in Chelmsford voted overwhelmingly to install artificial turf fields at two schools, with $1.2 million of the project’s cost coming from the town’s Community Preservation Act funds. One potential problem: the Community Preservation Act bars the purchase of artificial turf with CPA funds.

The Lowell Sun reports the project will be funded with $1.2 million in CPA funds, $800,000 in bond money, $575,000 from the town’s capital budget, and $500,000 raised privately.

Approved in 2000, the Community Preservation Act provides matching state funds to municipalities that vote to add a surcharge to their property taxes, with the combined state and local revenue targeted at historic preservation initiatives, affordable housing, open space, or recreational projects. To date, 155 Massachusetts cities and towns have adopted the Community Preservation Act and more than $1 billion has been raised.

When some communities started using their CPA funds to spruce up existing parks, install artificial fields, and build “recreational” sidewalks, opponents went to court. They said the CPA money could be used to create new recreational space or rehabilitate existing recreational space, but not for ongoing maintenance and certainly not to replace grass with artificial turf. The courts sided with the opponents.

Communities responded by changing the law. In 2012, lawmakers tweaked the law so rehabilitation of recreational space included “the replacement of playground equipment and other capital improvements to the land or the facilities thereon which make the land or the related facilities more functional for the intended recreational use.” But there was a provision inserted elsewhere in the law that barred the use of CPA funds to purchase artificial turf.

In Chelmsford, town meeting members clearly feel new artificial fields at the McCarthy Middle School and the high school will make the fields more functional, allowing play year-round and in almost any kind of weather. Chelmsford High senior Nick DeSilvio says the artificial turf will even be safer. He said he injured his knee playing football when a chunk of grass gave way underneath him, something that won’t happen with artificial turf.

                                                                                                                                                                        –BRUCE MOHL

MARATHON BOMBINGS

The Globe, NBC News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and others report the Tsarnaev brothers were originally planning to explode their bombs on July 4 but moved up their timetable when their bombs were ready sooner than expected.

Weeks before their arrest for allegedly aiding bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a Housing Court judge ordered two UMass Dartmouth students evicted from their New Bedford apartment for failing to pay rent for nearly three months.

Michael Jonas, writing for CommonWealth, and Eileen McNamara, writing for WBUR, offer similar takes on the wall-to-wall coverage and reaction to the Boston Marathon bombings as opposed to the lack of attention paid to the almost daily drumbeat of violence that has been hitting some city neighborhoods.

The Globe reports that Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer overseeing the $28 million One Fund Boston, the charity that has collected donations to aid Marathon bombing victims, says families of those killed as well as those who lost more than one limb will likely be given more than $1 million, while those who lost a limb will probably receive amounts approaching $1 million.

Peter Gelzinis notes that, had Tsarnaev’s now-detained UMass Dartmouth friends called the FBI when they realized Tsarnaev was a Marathon bomber, rather than dumping his backpack for him, MIT police officer Sean Collier might be alive.

A Methuen High School student who vowed to outdo the Boston Marathon bombers on his Facebook page is being held without bail, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

BEACON HILL

Edward Dolan, a veteran of the state criminal justice and youth services systems, will be the new Commissioner of Probation. Dolan, who takes over an agency that’s been embroiled in controversy over patronage hiring, gets high marks for integrity in this Globe profile.

Johnny Ramos is back working his security job, but it’s unclear whether the State Police will again force his removal because of a felony conviction 34 years ago. Ramos also has to start over as a new employee with his old employer, with no vacation time and a depleted 401k, CommonWealth reports.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

The Somerset Playground and Recreation Commission, whose elected members were recorded at a meeting demanding family members be hired for summer jobs and suggesting workers play computer solitaire to look busy, has rescinded a list for new hires amid a move by selectmen to look into the commission’s actions.

Private sanitation workers reached an agreement with the disposal company, Republic/Allied Waste, to avert a strike at Fall River’s landfill that city sanitation drivers said they would not cross.

The firefighters union in Wilmington votes no confidence in the town’s fire chief, the Sun reports.

Mansfield selectmen vote to withdraw from the year-old regional veterans’ services district that was formed with other area towns to try to save money while improving services to the growing population of veterans. It is the second town to withdraw, following Easton’s decision.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

Rhode Island becomes the 10th state to legalize gay marriage, the Providence Journal reports.

A new poll shows that 86 percent of Americans have no qualms about voting for a woman president, though most think a female president would be stronger on domestic issues while male presidents still hold the edge on foreign policy.

No Fourth of July concert on the National Mall, no more White House tours, and other sequester-induced cutbacks affecting tourists and residents in Washington, DC.

ELECTIONS

Keller@Large compares Gabriel Gomez less to Scott Brown and more to Elizabeth Warren and Deval Patrick, political outsiders who succeeded in an insiders’ game. Michael Graham chides Gomez for being insufficiently conservative.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette examines casino host agreements around the state and finds a lot of unique perks.

Haemonetics, which makes blood-collecting equipment, says it will close its Braintree manufacturing plant and move operations to Mexico and Asia in 12 to 18 months, eliminating 320 jobs here.

A couple of towers are in the offing for the South Boston Waterfront.

EDUCATION

The director of the Brockton schools facilities department has resigned in the wake of an inspector general’s report that accused him of awarding no-bid contracts to family and friends.

HEALTH CARE

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Cambridge Health Alliance have formed…an alliance.

Smart phones are getting a lot smarter, with device attachments that can take blood pressure, run an EKG, or check for an ear infection, the Associated Press reports (via Telegram & Gazette).

TRANSPORTATION

South Station gets free WiFi courtesy of Google, WBUR reports.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

A Lynn city councilor addles eggs near Flax Pond to clear geese from the area. Addling, for those who don’t know, involves coating the eggs with a layer of vegetable oil so oxygen doesn’t get through the shell and the chicks die, the Item reports.

Salem residents living near the old coal-fired power plant express concerns about Footprint Power’s plans to tear it down and replace it with a gas-fired plant, the Salem News reports.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

In a huge blow to Whitey Bulger’s defense, US District Judge Denise Casper rules that he cannot present claims to have been granted immunity for any crimes, including murder, at his upcoming trial.  It “guts his defense,” says attorney Anthony Cardinale.

MEDIA

Cohasset selectmen want town counsel to issue a subpoena for the Patriot Ledger to turn over the IP addresses of anonymous posters on the paper’s stories who are making nasty comments about the town on the Ledger’s website. Another GateHouse newspaper, the Cohasset Mariner, was served with two subpoenas last week.

Herald columnist Joe Battenfeld picks a fight with WGBH reporter Adam Reilly.

The Daily Beast drops media critic Howard Kurtz, Politico reports.