BOSTON (AP) - It may be Evacuation Day, but some Beacon Hill
leaders have been going out of their way to show they are hard at
work.

Gov. Deval Patrick invited reporters to a meeting on local
workforce development efforts Wednesday before heading off to sit
down with the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association.

House and Senate Republicans also invited reporters to a meeting
they were having with business leaders.

Both Patrick and Republican lawmakers have pushed to repeal the
Evacuation Day holiday for government workers in Suffolk County.

Republicans say they will offer an amendment later this year to
end the holiday.

Evacuation Day commemorates the moment on March 17, 1776, when
British troops retreated from a challenge posed by the Continental
Army massing in South Boston.