logo
Retired Worcester firefighter Joseph Casello, a lawmaker in Florida, dies of heart attack

Retired Worcester firefighter Joseph Casello, a lawmaker in Florida, dies of heart attack

Yahoo3 days ago
Former Worcester firefighter Joseph A. Casello, who retired from the department and moved to Florida, where he entered politics, has died after suffering a heart attack.
He was 73.
Casello, a Democrat, was a sitting member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing District 90. He lived in Boynton Beach.
He was hospitalized after a heart attack in early July and passed away on Friday, July 18, according to The Palm Beach Post newspaper. He had been on life support.
He spent more than three decades with the Worcester Fire Department, having grown up in the city. He also worked as an electrician.
After retiring from the department, he moved to Boynton Beach, in Palm Beach County. Within a few years he won a seat as a city commissioner. He was elected by three votes.
He was first elected to the House in 2018. He was serving his fourth term.
Before moving to Florida, Casello made a bid for Worcester City Council. He lost to incumbent Jofferey A. Smith in the 2007 race for the District 1 seat.
Prior to being taken off life support, Casello released a statement:
"My life has always been about public service and meeting the needs of my community. Serving as both a firefighter for 33 years and an elected official for 13 years has been the greatest honor of my life. Representing the people — through times of unity and division, triumph and challenge — has been a privilege I will always cherish."
Casello, who retired from the Worcester Fire Department as a lieutenant, was stationed on Park Avenue the morning of March 7, 1990, when fire broke out in an apartment house on Florence Street. A mother and three young children died in the blaze. Casello later said the fire had deep and continuing affect on him.
A photo of Casello, tired and distraught, appeared in the next day's newspaper.
Casello's time as a Worcester firefighter was referenced in remarks by Nikki Fried, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic party.
She said: "Joe Casello was the kind of public servant every community hopes for," Fried wrote. "As a firefighter for 33 years, he literally ran toward danger to protect others. As an Air Force veteran he understood how important it was to serve selflessly. As a city commissioner and state legislator, he brought that same courage and steady leadership to the halls of government."
Material from The Palm Beach Post was used in this report.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ex-Worcester firefighter Joseph Casello, lawmaker in Fla., dies of heart attack
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

'Culture of shame': NYC council member sounds alarm over Mamdani voters falling for 'pipe dream'
'Culture of shame': NYC council member sounds alarm over Mamdani voters falling for 'pipe dream'

Fox News

timean hour ago

  • Fox News

'Culture of shame': NYC council member sounds alarm over Mamdani voters falling for 'pipe dream'

EXCLUSIVE - BROOKLYN, NY: NYC Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov revealed the popularity of socialist mayoral candidate Zohan Mamdani is driven by his supporters falling for the "pipe dream" that socialism and communism have to offer. Vernikov, who was born in Soviet Ukraine, told Fox News Digital that she remembers standing in milk and bread lines with her grandfather, adding that Mamdani's policies are an "experiment that has been done before." "When you look at the Soviet Union, this is exactly what they did," Vernikov said. "They promised the people, everything, and at the end, who got rich? Only the government. And I think that's what's happening here." When asked what is behind Mamdani's surge in popularity that skyrocketed him to the top of the national conversation when he won the Democratic primary for the largest city in the United States, Vernikov suggested many of his voters are motivated by "guilt." "This is my opinion, is that we're living in a culture of shame that started during the George Floyd riots, when people who were White and who were rich were shamed into being White and rich and now we see who voted for Mamdani," Vernikov said. "It's not the Black community, it's not the Hispanic community, not the brown community, it's really not even the Jewish community, right? It's, really, the White and the privileged who voted for Mamdani and I think they were shamed into voting for him, and it's kind of a small price for them to pay to be accepted socially." Vernikov explained that another part of the equation is that many young Mamdani voters who have never experienced communism and socialism and "grew up privileged" have been tricked into thinking "this pipe dream could actually be a reality." "In reality, these things can never happen," Vernikov said. "What could happen is chaos. What could happen is bread lines, what could happen is us seeing the police flee, and this will not be New York City anymore as we know it. This will not be our country, and we cannot be proud of what it's about to become." Vernikov acknowledged that part of Mamdani's rise can be attributed to his being "extremely charismatic" and "charming," which has led to an "effective" campaign and that Republicans could learn from some of his campaign strategies. "I think the promises he's making combined with the guilt, with the shame, combined with him being extremely charismatic and charming, he's having a very, very effective campaign," Vernikov said. However, ultimately, Vernikov said his platform is filled with unkeepable promises and that he is "absolutely" a communist. "His ideas, he might say he's a socialist, but I don't really draw the line," Vernikov said. "I think it's the same concepts, the same ideas in terms of the economy, in terms of these policies. I think that it's very, very dangerous and it's counter to the idea of capitalism and the cornerstone of our democracy." Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment.

Karen Tumulty joins the Politics & Government desk as Chief Political Correspondent
Karen Tumulty joins the Politics & Government desk as Chief Political Correspondent

Washington Post

time2 hours ago

  • Washington Post

Karen Tumulty joins the Politics & Government desk as Chief Political Correspondent

We are thrilled to announce that Karen Tumulty will be returning to the Politics & Government desk in News to serve as chief political correspondent, taking the baton from the departing Dan Balz to produce the Sunday Take along with reported columns, features and news analysis about Washington and national politics. This is a homecoming for Karen, who spent eight years on the politics team before moving to Opinions in 2018 to write a reported column. During her time on the news side, Karen earned a reputation as a generous fount of both ideas and sources as well as a powerhouse political reporter. She served as moderator of two presidential primary debates — a Republican one The Post sponsored with Bloomberg in 2012 and a Democratic one with Univision in 2016. In 2014, she won the Toner Prize for what the judges described as 'engaging reporting on politicians' such as then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Ted Cruz, prescient stories about the shifting political landscape in West Virginia and a poignant profile of a Vietnam veteran who gave his 101st Airborne screaming eagle patch to then-Sen. Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. Before joining The Post in 2010, Karen spent 15 years at Time magazine, where she wrote or co-wrote more than 40 cover stories about Congress, the White House and national politics. Before that, she worked 14 years at the L.A. Times in Los Angeles, Washington and New York and briefly at the San Antonio Light, her hometown paper. She is also the author of the 2021 book 'The Triumph of Nancy Reagan,' a biography of the politically astute first lady who shaped one of the nation's most consequential presidencies. A proud Texan, Karen earned a journalism degree at the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Harvard Business & Government Editor Lori Montgomery, Deputy Politics & Government Editor Nick Baumann Please join us in welcoming Karen back to the 7th floor. Her first day will be Aug. 1.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store