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Reading from letters of school-age children who said they’ve contemplated suicide because of bullying, senators unanimously backed legislation aimed at cracking down on harassment in school and committed by students online.

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Governor Deval Patrick has no appetite for polls or pundits. His message is for the people.

“It’s voters who decide the election,” said Patrick at a small campaign rally in a Brighton home Sunday afternoon.

Weak penalties for drivers who flee police are encouraging suspects to hit the gas pedal and endangering innocent bystanders, a local police captain told lawmakers Wednesday.

The state’s high court on Wednesday threw out the conviction of a 50-year-old man found guilty of sending nude images to a police officer posing as a 15-year-old girl, arguing that the Essex County jury should’ve been told to think like residents of Hampshire County, where the crime occurred.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker has pulled into a statistical tie with Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick in the governor’s campaign, while unenrolled Treasurer Timothy Cahill has lost support, according to a new poll scheduled for release Wednesday.

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray attacked Republican gubernatorial contender Charles Baker Monday night, likening him to Pinocchio and questioning his claims regarding his role in Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s turnaround, the financing of the Big Dig and the payroll sacrifices made by state employees.

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Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo were cool Tuesday to a proposal the state’s mayors are pushing that would remove collective bargaining from municipal employee health insurance, saying preliminary surveys of House leaders had revealed divisions.

House leaders prepared members in a closed session Tuesday for a politically unpleasant effort to reduce state aid to cities and towns in the budget proposal expected to emerge in mid-April.

Saying that city and town clerks are fed up with a “lack of communication” from Beacon Hill, Woburn City Clerk William Campbell, an attorney, former Woburn city council president and onetime state representative candidate, says he hopes that sentiment helps him unseat Secretary of State William Galvin, a Beacon Hill fixture running for a fifth term.

More families have gone homeless, overseas service members have suffered and children have been endangered by recent budget cuts to Massachusetts courts, according to a Boston Bar Association review released Tuesday that urges lawmakers to lay off the judiciary’s funding in the upcoming fiscal year.

As unemployment hovers at near-record levels, jobless and low-wage-earning Massachusetts residents are often unqualified for thousands of vacant jobs, according to a new report.

Over 20 mayors and municipal officials from across the state are plotting an end-run around Beacon Hill, taking to voters a bid to relieve local budgets by wresting control of employee health plans from labor unions.

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Wall Street credit rating agencies cited effective state government management in affirming the state’s credit rating last week, but analysts also flagged high debt, falling tax collections, steep jobs losses, unfunded pension liabilities and rising health care costs as trends that are putting a drag on the state.

The Patrick administration plans to reduce rainy day fund spending this fiscal year by $80 million and cut its request for spending from the fund next year by $29 million, citing a recent federal government announcement that it will reimburse Massachusetts for certain payments associated with prescription drug coverage.

Sen. Robert Hedlund said he would have been a more attractive candidate for Congress than any of the Republicans vying to succeed U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, attributing his decision not to run to hoping to spend more time with his newborn son.

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Rep. Brian Dempsey voted to reject Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposal to license three casinos in Massachusetts when it came up for a vote in 2008, joining 107 colleagues to sink the plan that the governor promised would bring thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue to Massachusetts.

But a lot has changed since then.

With the state announcing Thursday that unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 percent in January, Dempsey is now helping House Speaker Robert DeLeo, in his post for a year now, spearhead a proposal to bring two casinos to the commonwealth and install slot machines at the state’s four racetracks.

For DeLeo to succeed, he’ll need to rely on the conversion of dozens of members, whose wide-ranging concerns about the last proposal – led by the loudest critic of all, former Speaker Salvatore DiMasi – caused them to vote to bottle it up, dealing the governor a defeat that resonates two years later.

Dempsey said the high jobless rate is “causing many members to rethink their position,” adding that members may still need “to be convinced” to change their positions on expanded gambling.

Turning votes isn’t the only challenge facing DeLeo.

Hours after DeLeo offered some additional details of the plan he is crafting, Gov. Deval Patrick told reporters that racetrack slots would be a deal-breaker “as it stands now.” He stopped short of issuing a veto threat, but if lawmakers fail to cobble together two-thirds of the House and Senate to support slots, Patrick would have the upper hand.

“We don’t get the jobs at the same number or at the same wage level with slots at the tracks as we do in the full-blown resort setting,” he said. I think we get all the human impact without the economic upswing.”

Critics of slot parlors say they prey on gambling addicts and those least able to afford spending their paychecks on slots.

Patrick said he hopes “we update the economic analysis because conditions continue to evolve.”

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation earlier this week also questioned the jobs promises historically attached to expanded gambling proposals and indicated it would likely analyze any new claims.

“I’m still opposed and I hope that people really run the numbers on these things,” added Rep. Daniel Bosley, a North Adams Democrat opposed to expanded gambling. Noting slot machines account for the bulk of gambling facility revenues, Bosley said DeLeo’s plan allows “at least six casinos really.” He predicted investors would also look to launch Indian casinos in Massachusetts, further diluting the potential market and taxpayer benefits, if Beacon Hill moves to legalize casinos.

Lawmakers with racetracks in their districts say their vote for a gambling proposal may hinge on support for the track workers.

Rep. Richard Ross (R-Wrentham), whose district includes Plainridge Racecourse, said he’s wary that casinos could undermine the state’s cultural appeal. However, he said, if the track in his district receives slot machines to help keep hundreds of workers employed there, he would consider supporting casinos. He wondered how state leaders could trumpet public jobs saved by federal stimulus dollars and then “sneeze at” a chance to save hundreds of racetrack jobs while generating gambling revenue.

Ross, who sat on the Economic Development Committee that rejected the governor’s bill in 2008, said he had been “thrown under the bus” at the time, when he said he was given assurances that any casino proposal would include support for his district’s track. When he learned it wouldn’t, he told the News Service, he withdrew his support and dealt a decisive blow to the casino plan in the committee.

DeLeo’s Winthrop-Revere district includes one racetrack and abuts another, and he acknowledged a “parochial interest” in permitting them to install slot machines. He said he’s still determining the “magic number” of slot machines that would enable tracks to retain jobs without cutting into the market for casinos.

“We will seek a balance between maximizing state revenue and setting in place those conditions that will allow our gaming facilities to thrive in the short and long term,” he said. “Central to our thinking is the number of people who will be directly employed in gaming, as well as the funds that can be invested in other areas to create further jobs.”

DeLeo eschewed guesses about the number of jobs and the amount of revenue the new gambling facilities could bring in, saying he’s awaiting a market analysis. But he’s made clear that jobs – ending a “Blue Collar Depression,” he said – would be the centerpiece of his plan. DeLeo vowed that there would be strict requirements in the bill that gambling operators demonstrate an ability to create jobs and to finance their proposals before winning the state’s blessing.

In an emailed statement, David Falcone, a spokesman for Senate President Therese Murray, said, “President Murray looks forward to seeing the bill. She still believes that destination resort-style casinos are the best gaming option to optimize revenues and create permanent jobs.”

In a posting on massbeacon.com Thursday, David Guarino, a former senior advisor to DiMasi, said Patrick two years ago would have had an easier time advancing his casino legislation if he had proposed racetrack slot machines, would have won more votes by supporting two casinos rather than three, and “might have even won in the House” if he had done both and tied revenues to a cause like aid to schools.

“DeLeo is well-positioned, though he’ll have to fill in the blanks on the jobs and revenue questions he left unanswered so far,” Guarino wrote. “But, for now, he can let the pot simmer and help more of his members lay the groundwork for a difficult policy flip. He needs at least 35 votes, and the clock is tickin.”

Guarino added: “Executing a position change on a topic as widely covered and widely dissected as casino gambling will be difficult, particularly in an election year. The period we are now in – between when nomination papers to run are available and when they are due back – is the time incumbent legislators are most risk averse. This can’t be an easy dance.”

Gambling interests leapt to support the speaker’s plan, with Suffolk Downs in East Boston declaring itself ready to build a gambling “complex.”

“As the state's premier gaming destination for 75 years, and as a respected community partner, Suffolk Downs is ready to begin construction and to hire thousands of skilled men and women to build a world-class entertainment, gaming, thoroughbred racing complex and hotel upon authorization by the Commonwealth,” said Chip Tuttle, the track’s chief operating officer, in a statement. “We're excited to work with the speaker, senate president, their respective chambers and the administration to create thousands of new, permanent jobs and to help grow the region's tourism and hospitality business.”

Suffolk officials on Thursday declined to say whether they were interested in slots or a casino.

During an October 2009 public hearing on gambling proposals, Tuttle said a slot parlor at Suffolk could be operational in months and could be a precursor to a destination resort casino that creates 3,000 permanent jobs. He said the track's proximity to two MBTA stops and 5,000 parking spaces made it an ideal location for a new gambling facility.

In August 2008 Suffolk Downs and Wonderland Park reached an agreement to give Suffolk the option to buy Wonderland and allow the two tracks to pursue jointly a casino contract.

In his own statement Thursday, Raynham Park owner George Carney said DeLeo's call for racetrack slot machines and resort casinos “hit it right on the money.” Carney predicted “thousands” of new jobs and said Raynham was developing a plan for a “destination gaming facility” that would create more than 500 construction jobs and 1,500 new, permanent jobs, if expanded gambling is approved.

Raynham spokeswoman Amy Lambiaso said the track was focused on adding slot machines but hoped to include in its facility entertainment, restaurants and a hotel.

Gary Piontkowski, president of Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville, said he’s prepared to put 1,000 construction workers to work and create 600 additional jobs if his facility is allowed to expand to include gambling.

“We are shovel-ready and prepared to leave the gate on all cylinders,” he said. “Our plan will be to become the gatekeeper of Mass. residents currently passing by our facility on the way to Rhode Island and Connecticut,” where large gambling facilities draw many New England tourists.

Piontkowski said the plan would help blue collar workers, “those feeding the horses, cleaning the stalls, putting the shoes on them.”

“We’ve got to get back to what we’re known for, which is blue collar hard working workers,” he said. “It is one happy day for the horse breeding industry in Massachusetts.”

Jeff Hartmann, chief operating officer at Mohegan Sun, which has plans for a resort casino in Palmer, described the company as “very pleased” with DeLeo's comments and predicted a Western Massachusetts casino “will provide excellent job opportunities for people who are looking to begin a new career path, deliver meaningful economic impact in one of the regions where it is needed most, and create long term revenue for the entire Commonwealth.”

Palmer’s Town Council president, Paul Burns, issued a statement praising the speaker’s proposal and said his town would “continue the fight to ensure that Palmer is chosen as a host community.”

“Few communities have yet to approve the development of a resort casino and most will find the debate divisive and lengthy,” Burns wrote. “On the other hand, the people of Palmer overwhelmingly said Yes to a resort Casino ten years ago, that support has only strengthened as time has passed. Palmer has the infrastructure and the ability to support this development and is ideally located to maximize revenues given its distance from a potential Eastern Mass facility.”

DeLeo said the Legislature would stay out of the process of casino siting, saying a competitive process would occur and be judged by an outside commission that will be provided for in legislation he plans to unveil later this month. In the past, the House had debated gambling prior to its April budget debates.

DeLeo said the prospect of an Indian tribe opening a casino is being looked at and is “something we’re going to continue to be taking a look at even after the passage of this legislation.”

Opponents of expanded gambling immediately blasted DeLeo’s proposal as a boon for “wealthy investors” while “the rest of us pay.”

Kathleen Norbut, president of United to Stop Slots Massachuestts, said the bill is being crafted in secrecy and would “disproportionately drain money from the low income and blue collar worker that they allegedly want to help.”

Laura Everett, associate director of the Mass. Council of Churches, said DeLeo’s proposal would result in “blanketing the state with six new gambling locations.”

Everett said DeLeo “acknowledged he wasn’t sure how many jobs or how much revenue it would create.” She said the state should commission an independent cost analysis. “We’ve got to make an adult decision based on real numbers,” Everett told the News Service.

An outspoken gambling critic, Sen. Susan Tucker (D-Andover) said the speaker “wants to saturate slot parlors that will end up costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars down the road.” Tucker said costs include building new infrastructure to support slot parlors, establishing a new bureaucracy to oversee gambling venues and treating addiction. In addition, she said, slot venues and casinos will divert funds from the state Lottery, and, as a result, from local aid to cities and towns.

“The irony is that so many jobs are lost when you bring in casino gambling,” she said. “It pulls money out of the economy, just like a tax increase. It has a huge impact on existing business.”

Expanded gambling opponents, in addition to arguing the initiative will pull money out of other sectors of the economy and the state Lottery, say that once the state authorizes new forms of gambling it will be unable to control expansion.

Acknowledging the “social cost of gaming,” DeLeo told reporters after a morning speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce that his constituents are desperate for jobs, and that “there is also a social cost to joblessness.”

“When I drove home last week one night, I had a gentleman waiting for me with a resume when I drove up to my house at 9:30 at night because he didn’t have job,” DeLeo said. “He was concerned. He was concerned about his ability to pay for his bills and care for his family.”

DeLeo’s chamber audience included racetrack interests, representatives of Indian tribes, his own top lieutenants, and representatives of Mohegan Sun, which operates a resort casino in Connecticut and is eyeing a casino in Palmer. Other locations that have been considered viable casino locations include Middleborough, Gardner, New Bedford and Mashpee, where the Wampanoag Tribe has pursued a casino.

The speaker rejected the assertion that gambling addicts are an integral part of the business model of casino operators, and he said some revenue reaped from expanded gambling would be diverted to “getting those folks a place they can go to get the help … that they need.” According to the plan he outlined, casino license fees would help fund capital investment in manufacturing and industry-specific programs at community colleges and vocational technical schools.

Asked how he would convince the governor to lend his support, DeLeo said he’s asked the governor to give him a chance. “I told the governor to sit tight, just hear me out, listen to my plan,” he said. “He said he would. We’ll see.”

Asked by Chamber of Commerce President Paul Guzzi about how the state would regulate gambling, DeLeo said his bill will be “a lot more all-encompassing than you may think” and will include a “component about law enforcement.”

Attorney General Martha Coakley has said that any foray into expanded gambling could breed various types of organized crime, and she has called for stronger law enforcement authority to prevent money laundering, and the ability to use wire intercepts during state investigations.

Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which stayed neutral during the 2008 gambling debate, plans to do the same this time around. But AIM executive vice president John Regan said DeLeo was on track with his message of supporting blue collar, manufacturing workers.

“This idea about creating jobs all across the spectrum. The job creation that occurs in the life sciences arena is outstanding … We’re pleased that they’re creating jobs,” he said. “However, the educational attainment level that one needs in order to be qualified for jobs in that arena is different than what is required for those in a blue collar manufacturing environment.”

Louis Ciarlone, president of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 123, was walking into DeLeo’s office Thursday afternoon. “My folks sent me here to thank him,” Ciarlone said.

His union, which he said includes 200 members, has long pushed for racetrack slots.

“We’re very, very optimistic,” Ciarlone said. “We’re thrilled the speaker is taking the leadership and initiative.”