Governor Patrick proposes broad budget cuts to offset sagging tax revenue. [Boston Channel] Traffic is already worsening as cash-strapped state agencies can't afford nighttime road repairs. [Boston Globe] Yes, traffic lights have been adjusted in Back Bay to save you time and reduce emissions. [WBZ-TV] Black Mass, Part II? A Pentecostal church will soon be at the site of Whitey's Winter Hill hangout. [Boston Globe] One little "Sarah Palin gang-rape" joke gets Sandra Bernhard......

-- Graffiti artist Danielle Bremner, allegedly known by the nom de tag "Idaho" was arrested on outstanding charges that she vandalized property in the Back Bay. Bremner, whose rap sheet is international, faces 33 counts of vandalism. Her bail was set at $10,000. [Herald] -- Michael Joseph Brown, a 34-year-old from Limerick, Ireland, faces charges of open and gross lewdness after allegedly revealing his wee Blarney Stone to passersby at the Symphony MBTA station. When......

-- Elvia McField, 56, was found stabbed to death in her home on Amory St., near the boundary between Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. Police arrested 66-year-old Charles Cherry and charged him with the murder. [WCVB; BPDNews] -- A 25-year-old woman was raped at gunpoint at the Back Bay Orange Line station yesterday evening, and police have arrested a 48-year-old parolee for committing the crime. The woman was approached by her assailant while on the subway......

To provide an update on our MassDebate articles opposing and "meh"-ing the proposed redevelopment of the Shreve, Crump & Low building, it seems that Back Bay residents have united in strong opposition to the proposed modernist design, prompting the Boston Redevelopment Authority to put the project on hold. Citizens say there's too much glass, not enough tribute to the way the building used to be, and nothing "Boston" about it. Developer Ronald Druker says "We......

According to WalkScore.com, Boston is America's third most walkable city, behind San Fran and NYC. The city ranking system is slightly unclear, but appears to be based on averages of neighborhood walkability, or perhaps numbers of most walkable neighborhoods. Walk Score says Boston's best areas for walking are the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, and the South End. Somewhat ironic that a wonderful walking city is in massive transportation debt.......

Bostonist was permitted to set foot in Boylston Street's gleaming ice palace of an Apple Store this morning, in advance of its Friday opening. An Apple spokespersonage gestured and informed us that the store's floor is from Italy and that the store's employees are from the Boston area. (Bostonist recognized and was recognized by a former Diesel barista.) The staircase, we're assuming, is from the future. Mayor Menino blessed the whole endeavor and laid hands......

Update: The DA's Office just sent out confirmation. They say both stabbings happened on the outbound platform and that the stabbing victims are expected to survive. Roxbury Crossing was shut down at about 6:00 pm tonight due to a double stabbing. From the Globe: One victim was stabbed on the train platform; the other was stabbed in the station's parking lot. The incident happened at around 5:45, said MBTA spokeswoman Lydia Rivera. One victim......

Turns out Green Line service is down between Government Center and Lechmere. Here's the T Alert that was sent out: Green Line - Due to a wire problem at North Station. A substitute bus shuttle is operating between Government Center and Lechmere making all local stops. Passengers should utilize Orange Line service to make connections for Haymarket, North Station or Back Bay (for Copley area). Please allow extra time for your commute. 2/28/2008 11:01 AM......

--Revere police arrived to a crime scene today at 3:15 p.m. They reported a fatal stabbing and a non-fatal shooting. There aren't many details available at this point, but a source tells the Herald that the victim was attacked by her son. [Boston Herald] --A Brookline teen was charged with drunken driving after hitting a 21-year-old pedestrian on Comm Ave between Exeter and Fairfield in the Back Bay at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday. He......

While waiting for the bus at Mass Ave and Washington Street in the South End, we used to always wonder why an entrepreneur never converted the former Alexandra Hotel into high-end condos. It wasn't for the lack of effort. A 2006 Globe piece documents the building's long, troubled history, describing an "old Gothic goddess [that] now stands out on the corner as an over-the-hill vamp, wearing graffiti like smeared lipstick. Redevelopment is passing it by."......

--Cambridge was the scene of a violent attack on a homeless man. Early on January 29, the man was walking with his girlfriend in Central Square on Norfolk when three men attacked him, and one of them stabbed him in the back. [Cambridge Chronicle] --Although the incident happened in June, Dorchester is still reeling from an online video showing local Vietnamese American teens and young adults brutally beating a teenage boy and a teenage girl......

Books Ex-SNL writer Patricia Marx, who was also one of the first women to be elected to the Lampoon, will be at Borders Back Bay to talk about Him Her Him Again the End of Him, about a woman who cannot wash a supremely snotty, pretentious man out of her hair. Check out the first chapter, in which Marx's heroine describes her first encounter with "Eugene" and tries to remember what her dissertation was about......

--A parking rage incident turned so ugly in Chelsea early this morning that a man was shot in the stomach. The Chelsea police chief said the whole mess started solely because one parked car was "touching" another parked car. And this is what happens when people with anger-management issues have guns. [Boston Globe] --In a drug-related shooting, an innocent 68-year-old man was shot in the back in Roxbury after trying to defend his apartment building......

--Useful, detailed advice on how to get your car started in the bitter cold. [b0st0n LiveJournal] --Dan Kennedy evaluates all the speeches the winners (and runners-up) gave after the Iowa caucuses. [Media Nation] --A rave review of La Voile in the Back Bay. [Cave Cibum] --And a not-so-rave review of The Publick House for their treatment of people who were just trying to enjoy trivia night and who arrived more than willing to spend money......

Unlike the Top 10 Most Commented stories, the top 10 favorites represented a selection of all the fun, the playful, and just plain odd that this city has to offer. You loved sex scandals at the local schools, Vendetta Gunn, and the local productions On Broadway and "BU Tonight." But we were really surprised at how much you loved … Barbie. Yeah, Barbie. 10. Arlington School System Turns Into Peyton Place 9. Boston Blotter: Penis......

This Bostonist swung by the newest sushi restaurant to invade Back Bay last week, and the overall impression was a good one. First off, Haru is a New York city implant, and the location in Dick's Last Resort's old spot in the Prudential Building is the chain's first in the city. Thank you very much, New York. We'll take your trophy AND your sushi. That'll be just fine. But Bostonist digresses. The decor at......

It might be a stretch to claim that all the children at Sunday's Boston Comic Con were present to support their parents, but there was one incontrovertible example. Two toddlers, swaddled in the costumes of Superman and the Flash, raced through the Back Bay Events Center in strollers, pushed by their parents. "I think he's going to win," said the mother, pointing at the one dressed as Superman. "He's really the fastest." The convention was......

Boston Comic Con Sunday, October 21, 10am-5pm Back Bay Events Center (180 Berkeley Street), $8 The comics industry is known for its oddballs, and Jim Steranko is a case in point. He is best known for his late sixties work at Marvel Comics, where he brought a designer's eye to drawing Nick Fury for Strange Tales. He drew across the whole page, defying panel boundaries, to a surreal effect. But comics may have been the......

Word is out that there's a plague of rats in the city. Not that it's anything new. Rats fall in and out of vogue in Boston media all the time. Around this time last year, the Globe did a story on a rat invasion in the Back Bay. For the record, the Back Bay did not handle it well. In the latest story, David Abel at the Globe reports that rat complaints are up: "In......

--The BPD has announced that an "errant shot" hit Steven Odom, 13, in the head in front of his own home. Odom was killed in Dorchester on Thursday night. Commish Davis says that police already have leads. But that's not going to help the family. Gangs and gunfights in this city are a huge problem, and it's incidents like these, where an innocent kid dies, that makes it seem as if the police and the......

According the MBTA inspector we stalked into the Dunkin' Donuts at Haymarket Station, the Orange Line was shut down from Back Bay to North Station all morning because "a car tipped over at Chinatown." When pressed for more info, the inspector only added, "everything's cleared up now." Offers to trade him a donut for more scoop nearly resulted in a Star Simpson style escort out of the area. Sorry. We're not cute enough to......

--The Cambridge City Council has decided to name intersections after Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The Track Girls write that the council plans "to dedicate the intersections of Pearl and Cottage streets to Affleck and the corner of Pearl and Auburn streets to Damon." Once this is accomplished, wait for the college students to start defacing Affleck's corner and shouting, "And that's what I think of Gigli!" And then wait for someone to launch a......

If you've always dreamed of owning a swanky Back Bay condo overlooking the Charles River Esplanade, you might get your big chance soon. All you'll need to do is stock up on the earplugs and fun-tak. Remember how the Storrow Drive Tunnel was voted Boston's most likely to collapse and leak on you to death last semester? And how maybe the only way to fix it would be to close the road and bulldoze......

The South End Open Studios will take place this weekend - Saturday, September 15, and Sunday, September 16, from 11 am to 6 pm. This year's South End Open Studios will be satisfying all your art cravings over the weekend. You can see a full list of participants at the United South End Artists, Inc. website. Some of the more eye-catching projects include Katie DiChiara's "fabulous funky artificial hair sculptures designed to enlighten." Beyond......

Tom Brady has had a lot on his mind as of late: the upcoming Pats season, the new arrival of lil' JET Moynahan, making sure to spend enough quality time with Gisele Bundchen. We get it. It's tough to be a multi-millionaire football star, famous hottie and anything-but-typical Boston guy. But this flip-flopping business has got to stop. Boston.com features today some photos of Tom and Gisele hanging out Wednesday in the Back Bay, and......

Friday at Back Bay station: it's hot, it's midnight, and the crowd on the platform is ever deepening. Low-level panic set in when the MBTA's dreaded Mr. Roboto Voice of Sorrow (as opposed to the Worf Voice of Normalcy) comes over the intercom and says, "Due to a trespasser on the right of way, Orange Line service between Haymarket and Wellington Station is being diverted to shuttle buses." Everyone knew that it was going......

Correction: We had an image of James Albrecht, which we put in our standard top left (or right) corner for the Blotter. We've replaced it with crime-scene tape. As a commenter pointed out, the image and the headline have nothing to do with each other, and the positioning might cause someone to mix up the stories, so we replaced it. Apologies for any confusion. --The hunt is on for a man who raped a 67-year-old......

--As if carnies didn't have a shady enough reputation, a carnival in Hyannis hired a convicted sex offender. Good job with the background checks, folks. The guy is 24 years old and has 52 outstanding warrants. With all that, how did he have time for the carnival? --More on the teenager shot on the train – like the stabbings at Back Bay, we're wondering why police weren't able to catch the perps. Even if people......

UPDATE: The Orange Line is running again according to an MBTA rep. We're running the blotter early because Ruggles is shut down following a shooting on a train. WBZ reports that a 19-year-old went to Boston Medical Center. WCVB had more – the man was hit in the leg, it happened on the last car, and two black men ran off after the shooting. MBTA says the following on its site: Substitute bus service will......

You'd think no one got anyone pregnant by accident before. But speculation about Tom Brady's baby is getting as big as the bump on baby mama Bridget Moynahan's body. First came the politicians, then came the nonnis. Yes, psychics. The Herald consulted Italian grandparents to see if they thought Brady would have a boy or a girl. This means that a crew of grandmas were staring hard at the shape of Bridget Moynahan's baby bump.......