The Commonwealth's Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi has long been seen as the biggest obstacle in the way of Governor Deval Patrick's plan to build three luxury casinos in the Bay State. DiMasi lived up to that reputation yesterday by delivering a blistering attack against the governor's projections for how many jobs the initiative would create. A Globe piece made clear on Sunday that Patrick's numbers are lazy at best, and exceedingly misleading......

Yesterday we focused on the negative: neither Ted Kennedy nor John Kerry nor Deval Patrick was able to help Barack Obama to a win in the Massachusetts primary. However, Atlantic blogger Matthew Yglesias slowed the rush to proclaim Kennedy's irrelevance with a helpful chart: It's obvious there (and it was obvious here and here) that Obama had a lot of momentum heading into the voting--though it's impossible to say exactly how much of that was......

Governor Deval Patrick testified this morning at the State House about his plan to create an Executive Office of Education. This would consolidate authority and responsibility for the commonwealth's education system from pre-kindergarten to higher education to one cabinet-level position in the State House. Patrick referenced his recent trip to China, saying that Massachusetts is known throughout the world for its educational institutions. Education is "our calling card." In addition, as home to America's......

Not only does Project Runway Season 4 feature a contestant named Sweet P (was the "ea" part of "pea" that intrusive?), it also has the requisite dude with whack hair, dude with whack facial hair, and a fabulous first episode title: "Sew Me What You Got." Sweet! None of the designers appear to have Massachusetts connections, but models Lauren, Marcia, and Wendi are all from the Bay State. Lauren started modeling in Boston, and Marcia......

Our friend hargo gives us our first October action photo. This "Bowling for Fluff" shot was taken over the weekend during Somerville's Fluff Festival which celebrated the Bay State's favorite space-age sandwich spread. Hargo has a super set of all the wacky goings-on at the event. Check it out - and our apologies for the late posting today.......

It's not often that an event, by its very existence, gives the lie to two powerful stereotypes about a place. But in a city known for neither its happy hours nor its tacos, Bella Luna's Taco Happy Hour does just that. Let's be clear. There are no five-cent beers at this happy hour, no discounted shots named after infamous sexual acts. But there are tacos. Four different kinds, all prepared on fresh corn tortillas, all......

--An explosion at an Easton home that may have resulted from a gas leak sent six people to the hospital this morning. The blast was so strong that it flattened the two-story structure. Four students from Stonehill College were living in the home. Three had minor injuries, and one is recovering at Brigham and Women's. Two Bay State Gas employees were working nearby at the time of the explosion, and they were also sent to......

Ok – it's a hard state to spell. What if I my true god was…a sandwich? Eugene Mirman, one of Bostonist's favorite comedians, and a former Cambridge resident, comes back to the Bay State and interviews schmucks homeless tourists people in hopes of getting to better know Massachusetts. Watch the video posted to Super Deluxe as Mirman taunts Harvard students, orders (based on market price) about $100 worth of food at Summer Shack, wonders who......

Since we're getting increasingly bored with dropping cash on the quick fix of a scratch ticket, and gas prices are high enough to deter drop of the hat trips down to Connecticut for a little full service gambling, eyes have turned to the possibility of casino gambling in the Bay State. We mapped it out a couple weeks ago when we first imagined the slow creep of the casino into Massachusetts, but it seemed to......

In Rhode Island you can't get married as a same sex couple. You can't get divorced as a same sex couple either. Well, at least not yet. According to the Providence Journal, the Rhode Island State Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments and give an answer to the question: "May the Family Court properly recognize, for the purpose of entertaining a divorce petition, the marriage of two persons of the same sex who......

Six men, including two men from Boston, have been indicted for prostituting teenage girls. The charges include "conspiracy to transport minors across state lines for prostitution." These people placed ads in the paper or kidnapped teenagers off the street and put them to work. And these alleged scumbags fancied themselves pimps and gave themselves big pimpin' names, such as "Young Stallion," "Syncere," "Ruby Black," "Young Indian," and "Breeze." The last guy, from Portland, Maine, is......

Living in the Bay State we remember when we had a brand-new ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court legalizing same-sex marriage. It seemed to be one of those high court rulings that didn't really make it legal (because, you know, it's the judicial branch, not the legislative) but rather defined was something was or wasn’t. Last week the Worcester Superior Court ruled on something not quite as groundbreaking and offered up a definition. A burrito......

You don’t need to book a flight to California for a Sideways-style adventure the moment you start to feel your mid- (or more quarter-) life crises creeping up. Recently, Bostonist was delightfully surprised to learn there are over a dozen wineries (with actual vineyards!) right in Boston’s backyard. This whole realization came about last weekend when Bostonist was on our way to Singing Beach. While driving through Topsfield, saw a sign for Alfalfa Farm. The......

While we don’t long for the days of having a required summer reading list, Bostonist has been feeling a bit inspired to pick up a book and actually start reading something not on a computer screen. Since we’re going to be “vacationing” in the city this year, we might as well read some books that are set here in our fair state. Here are some of our Bostonist staff picks for your reading enjoyment. History......

Who says Boston doesn't have any celebrities? Since Norm and Cliff don't grace our Thursday night televisions and heralding Good Will Hunting has become passé a lot of people are talking about how we don’t have much celeb power here in the Hub. Forbes Magazine takes a break from rating the richest people in America and the world to take focus on the 100 hottest celebrities – based on both influence and on their annual......

It may only have been a funnier news item if it were actually featured in The Onion. Clever headlines like "No pans, just pot in this cabinet," "Home DePOT Vanities Hold Drugs," "Marijuana 'bricks' found in Home Depot vanities," and "Plumber finds a fix in the fixture" graced the headers of online and print media as the fifth reported stash of drugs was found inside a bathroom vanity purchased from a Home Depot in Massachusetts.......

Today we flipped on the radio for a bit of a dose of news. First thing we hear is about breastfeeding. The issue of the day was the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's approval of the "gift basket" with infant formula distributed to mothers in state maternity wards. Pro-breastfeeding groups had pushed for a ban on the distribution of free infant formula – before the Govnah stepped in and according to the Boston Globe "......

Is it time for the fourth post of the day having to deal with the rain? Yes. It is. This one, unlike the others, has historical context and an eye towards the sunshine that will be upon us sometime this summer. While we’ve been soaking up the rain, building our ark, and missing the rays of sunshine, we’re thinking about what we’ll be doing this summer. Like many in the Bay State we plan to......

The weather is gorgeous. Great day to hit Fenway for an evening match-up. Too bad we don’t have tickets. As is standard this time of year, we’ve got baseball on the mind. Well, baseball and the next challenge to same-sex marriage here in the Bay State. To be perfectly accurate the case the Supreme Judicial Court will hear today is about banning a ballot question, a question which would move to ban same-sex marriage. There......

Honorary Degrees are worthless documents, printed at a premium on fancy paper, and signed by the president of the university. Well, they’re not worthless. The honorary doctoral degrees don’t give the holder any academic credentials (they can’t use PhD after their name or call themselves Dr. whatever, either) but they do serve as official acknowledgement from the granting institution to an individual of their accomplishments in life that fit with the mission of the university.......

Surveying this morning’s newspapers, T-riders are presented with the unhappy prospect of major fare increases. Coming as it does on the heels of news that our Commonwealth has been dropping residents like a bad habit, this news is enough to make Bostonist wonder if there’s any hope. Luckily, the same morning papers supply the answer: There is hope, because our great state is a place of great innovation and ingenuity, and home to a large......

Admittedly we’re a little low on the Saturday evening picks for this week. Mostly because we know we’ll still be swigging green beer by the pint – or at least too hung-over from Friday night to make it out to a show. Again this week we’ve put a little classical music for those of you that feel a little culture is good for the soul. Monday 3/13: Dilated Peoples and Little Brother Rakaa, Evidence......

Back in 1999, Bostonist grabbed the VHS from the local video store and popped in Chris Rock’s “Bigger and Blacker.” While entertaining, there was one joke in particular that caught our attention, and it resurfaced on our DVD player years later when Michael Moore made use of it in Bowling for Columbine:You don't need no gun control. You know what you need? We need some bullet control. Man, we need to control the bullets, that's......

So Bostonist has never claimed to be the most intellectual of the bunch, especially when it comes to television. We’ve been tuning in these past couple weeks to Fox’s harshest reality television show (no, not Skating With Celebrities) to see just how mean the judges on American Idol can get. As we’ve seen in the last few seasons of this spinoff of the British show, Pop Idol, the best part of Idol is the......

Perhaps not a huge fan of Clay, Bostonist is a fan of the contest. We, and we think you, like free stuff and that feeling of being special. We were reminded today of the Bon Jovi show that we gave away a pair of tickets to back in mid-October (congrats Pyng, enjoy the show!). The concert sold out for the Garden pretty quickly, but looking out the window today we think there may be a......

A study by the Boston-based Catalogue for Philanthropy, released last week, says that Massachusetts is the second most stingy state in the nation (New Hampshire is first). (The different headlines about this from around the country are amusing. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette says, "Index Ranks Bible Belt Most Charitable Region;" the Globe, meanwhile, declares, "Mass. Generous After All, Study Finds.") Of course, people have quickly stepped up to attack the Catalogue of Philanthropy's methods and defend......

Tenth MA District U.S. Representative William Delahunt helped broker a deal with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to bring 12 million gallons of home heating oil to low income residents and charities in the Bay State. Our friend Paul over at A Blog Soup was quick to point out the Boston Globe report on this deal. Delahunt, working with Citizens Energy Corporation, secured a 40% discount on the 12 million gallons of oil arriving in Massachusetts......

Super Tuesday it ain't. Cities around the Commonwealth go to the polls today, but the big excitement seems to be in other places. To be sure, today is a big day for Maura Hennigan and her supporters (most of whom, from what Bostonist can tell, live along the Jamaicaway and have the most gi-normous lawn signs ever). But Bostonist still doesn't know quite what it is that makes Councilor Hennigan a better choice than Tom......

When Bostonist went through grade school Ben Franklin was the gold standard of inventor/kite-flyer, revolutionary, patriot, journalist, abolitionist and all-around model American. Born on Milk Street here in Boston in 1706, affection for Franklin and the many accomplishments in his life have long been used as a teaching tool for the Bay State chillins. Major news media is reporting today that Star Wars may usurp Franklin’s position. “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination'' which will......

Yesterday, a story hit the wire about the location of the Commonwealth’s most hazardous communities. The 59 page report was authored by Northeastern University sociology professor Daniel R. Faber and Eric J. Krieg, a professor at Johnson State College in Vermont and showed that 24 of the 30 most environmentally hazardous sites in the Bay State also had communities that were 25 percent or more non white. Bostonist can’t help but think about a memo......