In addition to cutting more than 78 and a half million dollars from the current fiscal year’s budget,   Barnes is recommending a crackdown on state hiring … with each commissioner having to justify any hiring to Barnes’s office,  and the Office of Policy and management having the final say over whether the hire is made,  based on whether it is necessary because  it is required by law or court order  . .  necessary to the public health or safety. . .  or would bring in more revenue than the position itself would cost.

More than half the cuts in the Barnes plan come from two departments –  $28.4 million from the Department of Children and Families $14.4  million from the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

The recissions include more than $1.9 million for Barnes’s own Office of Policy and Management,  and some $31,000 for the governor’s office.  Click here for full list of recissions.

When the Patriots take Lucas Oil Field in two weeks, they will do so as the home team. That being said, the Patriots will be wearing their home blue jersey’s for the big game.

The Patriots also wore their home blues back in Super Bowl XLII, also against the New York Giants.

The Patriots have been to seven Super Bowls and worn their blue jerseys three times, going 2-1 in those games. They have worn their white jerseys twice, going 1-1, and red jerseys once, losing the Chicago Bears 46-10 in Super Bowl XX.

As for football, the Pats are still enjoying their 23-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship. At least for one more day.

“It was a great feeling. We’re still playing over plays in our heads,” special teamer Matthew Slater said from the Pats locker room on Monday. “We’re satisfied now, but I think tomorrow we’ll be over it.”

Read: Patriots Favored In Super Bowl

And with that enjoyment comes the accolades, from family and friends that want to congratulate them for making it to the big game. Some praise is even coming from long lost relatives.

“All my friends and family and cousins that I’ve never met, everyone is coming out of the woodwork,” said receiver/safety combo Julian Edelman. “It’s awesome. To see all the people that have supported you through your career; not only just through professional football but from when you were young, and old coach. They hit you up and let you know they’re following you, so you have to take it in and embrace it.”

Edelman On All The Praise:

But once that enjoyment ends, it will be time to shift focus to the New York Giants. That focus will not be on what happened back in 2007, but on the Giants team they played, and lost to, back in early November.

Read: Levan Reid’s Patriots Blog

“It’s two different teams; it’s a different year, a different situation,” said Slater, who was not around for that Super Bowl loss four years ago. “It’s just about this game and this team and their team. Us trying to the best we can to win.”

“That’s in our past and we can’t do anything about that,” said running back BenJarvis Green-Ellis.

“They’re a real good team and they’ve only gotten better,” said Edelman. “We didn’t play against some of their key players. We’re going to play the best team that we’ve faced. It’s going to be a good game.”

“We’re blessed with the opportunity,” Green-Ellis said. “The other 30 teams are at home so we’re going to rest, go out and take this opportunity and make the best of it.”

Tune in to Super Bowl XLVI on 98.5 The Sports Hub on February 5, the only place you can hear the local call of the game!

All you have to do is correctly guess the next head coach of the Colts. Say what?

Earlier this year, the Colts fired coach Jim Caldwell after a 2-14 season spent entirely without star quarterback Peyton Manning, who was out with a neck injury.

Team owner Jim Irsay announced via Twitter Tuesday morning that he will give away two Super Bowl tickets to someone who correctly predicts the team’s next head coach.

Predict new Indianapolis Colts Head Coach,win 2 Super Bowl Tics! 1 guess only,u must guess by midnight tonight EST,Abby's hatpick! GOOD LUCK—
Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) January 24, 2012

Good guesses for the next Colts head coach include former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano.

Irsay did offer a hint, though. Actor Rob Lowe, who recently “announced” that Manning will retire (Manning has not retired yet), will not be the team’s next coach.

If you predict Rob Lowe,I'll have to hunt you down like a rabid rat in the dark night and tease your kin and soak ur shoes n salted waters!—
Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) January 24, 2012

Toucher & Rich thought it might be nice to help fans that are still looking to make the trip by researching some of the local hotels that still have rooms available close to Lucas Oil Stadium.

The hotels that they found have ratings of around one or two and are charging crazy rates. The guys jump in and read some reviews of people who have stayed there and find that these might not be the best choices.

Listen:

When the Patriots take Lucas Oil Field in two weeks, they will do so as the home team. That being said, the Patriots will be wearing their home blue jersey’s for the big game.

The Patriots also wore their home blues back in Super Bowl XLII, also against the New York Giants.

The Patriots have been to seven Super Bowls and worn their blue jerseys three times, going 2-1 in those games. They have worn their white jerseys twice, going 1-1, and red jerseys once, losing the Chicago Bears 46-10 in Super Bowl XX.

As for football, the Pats are still enjoying their 23-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship. At least for one more day.

“It was a great feeling. We’re still playing over plays in our heads,” special teamer Matthew Slater said from the Pats locker room on Monday. “We’re satisfied now, but I think tomorrow we’ll be over it.”

Read: Patriots Favored In Super Bowl

And with that enjoyment comes the accolades, from family and friends that want to congratulate them for making it to the big game. Some praise is even coming from long lost relatives.

“All my friends and family and cousins that I’ve never met, everyone is coming out of the woodwork,” said receiver/safety combo Julian Edelman. “It’s awesome. To see all the people that have supported you through your career; not only just through professional football but from when you were young, and old coach. They hit you up and let you know they’re following you, so you have to take it in and embrace it.”

Edelman On All The Praise:

But once that enjoyment ends, it will be time to shift focus to the New York Giants. That focus will not be on what happened back in 2007, but on the Giants team they played, and lost to, back in early November.

Read: Levan Reid’s Patriots Blog

“It’s two different teams; it’s a different year, a different situation,” said Slater, who was not around for that Super Bowl loss four years ago. “It’s just about this game and this team and their team. Us trying to the best we can to win.”

“That’s in our past and we can’t do anything about that,” said running back BenJarvis Green-Ellis.

“They’re a real good team and they’ve only gotten better,” said Edelman. “We didn’t play against some of their key players. We’re going to play the best team that we’ve faced. It’s going to be a good game.”

“We’re blessed with the opportunity,” Green-Ellis said. “The other 30 teams are at home so we’re going to rest, go out and take this opportunity and make the best of it.”

Tune in to Super Bowl XLVI on 98.5 The Sports Hub on February 5, the only place you can hear the local call of the game!

All you have to do is correctly guess the next head coach of the Colts. Say what?

Earlier this year, the Colts fired coach Jim Caldwell after a 2-14 season spent entirely without star quarterback Peyton Manning, who was out with a neck injury.

Team owner Jim Irsay announced via Twitter Tuesday morning that he will give away two Super Bowl tickets to someone who correctly predicts the team’s next head coach.

Predict new Indianapolis Colts Head Coach,win 2 Super Bowl Tics! 1 guess only,u must guess by midnight tonight EST,Abby's hatpick! GOOD LUCK—
Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) January 24, 2012

Good guesses for the next Colts head coach include former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano.

Irsay did offer a hint, though. Actor Rob Lowe, who recently “announced” that Manning will retire (Manning has not retired yet), will not be the team’s next coach.

If you predict Rob Lowe,I'll have to hunt you down like a rabid rat in the dark night and tease your kin and soak ur shoes n salted waters!—
Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) January 24, 2012

Toucher & Rich thought it might be nice to help fans that are still looking to make the trip by researching some of the local hotels that still have rooms available close to Lucas Oil Stadium.

The hotels that they found have ratings of around one or two and are charging crazy rates. The guys jump in and read some reviews of people who have stayed there and find that these might not be the best choices.

Listen:

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) _ A lawyer for Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel told a panel of Connecticut judges Tuesday that his client’s 20-year to life prison sentence for killing his teen neighbor in 1975 was excessive.

Skakel was convicted in 2002 of beating 15-year-old Martha Moxley to death with a golf club in wealthy Greenwich.

Skakel’s lawyer told a three-judge panel that his client was 15 at the time and would have been tried in juvenile court where the maximum sentence would have been four years.

Skakel, cuffed and shackled while wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, maintains his innocence. He said he was “baffled” by the legal process and pleaded with the judges to allow “the truth” to come out. He said he prays for Moxley’s mother every day.

The hearing Tuesday was only an appeal on the length of the sentence, and not an appeal of the conviction.

A prosecutor told the judges the sentence was appropriate and pointed out that Skakel could have been tried as an adult in 1975.

The judges did not immediately rule. A decision is expected in about two months.

Skakel is a nephew of Robert Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

41-year-old Andrew Robert Levene,  also known as Robert Thomas, was arrested in Spain on murder, robbery and firearms charges.

Court documents say Levene asked the jeweler to locate diamonds of two-to-three karats in size,  with a value of $45,000 to $75,000.  He examined them the night before the shooting and said he wanted to “sleep on” the decision.  Zeevi asked the associate to bring those gems and others to the second meeting,  at which both men were shot and the diamonds taken.