Results tagged “beaconhill”

• Lawmakers on Beacon Hill spent $126,000 on takeout food and $227,000 on office improvement. Bostonist awaits a thank you note. [Boston Herald]

• Attention scooter people! Massachusetts plans to stop to your free wheeling ways by requiring plates for your bikes on steroids. [Boston Globe]

Bostonist loves when it when booze and history are combined. We’ve been known to spend afternoons watching Drunk History videos on YouTube and to sweep the history category at trivia night. But if you told us two years ago that we’d be able to knock back a few drinks in a formerly infamous and historically significant jail … well, we’d think that maybe you’d had a few too many yourself.

There is a pressing issue occupying "minds" on Beacon Hill: Jobs, taxes, budget cuts, infrastructure, healthcare, crime, global warming, killing zoo animals Dogs. Our elected officials want to create a dangerous dog database, or registry, that lists pooches with bad intentions and records of mischief. The MSPCA opposes the bill, sponsored by Stephen J. Buoniconti (D-West Springfield), which would post pictures of dogs and explain their reckless acts. The MSPCA wants to increase spaying and neutering of shelter dogs, training for animal control officers and define "dangerous dog" properly. The legislature is also considering a bill to allow cities and towns to ban specific breeds of canines. Certainly, caution should be exercised when dealing with any animal, even those that appear safe. However, the summer of 2009 presents us with a full plate of issues that push laws of this nature down on the list of priorities.

State Treasurer Tim Cahill is leaving the Democratic party, step number one on the way to a possible gubernatorial run next year. Cahill's excuse for the transition is an opposition to tax and spend policy, something you'd think he might have objected to a while ago as, y'know, treasurer. Cahill had previously claimed he would run as a Democrat if he ran for governor, which already instills confidence in his integrity and ability to keep promises.

Bostonist would like to extend two big thumbs up to Nate Lusk, a Beacon Hill resident who (allegedly) chased down an (alleged) attempted burglar and aided police in the capture.

-- Six Somerville High School students say that Somerville police assaulted them last week in what proved to be a misguided—and possibly racially motivated—gang bust. The six students, all Latino, are not gang members, according to teachers, coaches, and Somerville community leaders (including, apparently, Mayor Joe). But that allegedly didn't stop police from rounding them up and beating their heads against police cruisers. [Somerville Journal]

Unless you have a hankering for IHOP, there are few places in this city where you can get quality breakfast throughout the day. Luckily, the Paramount on Charles Street serves breakfast all day long, for just those times when you need to feed those cravings.

-- Norton Cartright, the 21-year-old Chelsea man who assaulted his mother with a claw hammer and left her to die in a closet, was sentenced to life without parole by a Suffolk Superior Court Judge today, according to the Suffolk DA's office. During sentencing, prosecutors read aloud a letter from Cartright's 10-year-old brother that read, in part, “I think he should stay in jail for the rest of his life because if he got out in 15 to 20 years he would be 30 or 40 something and he could get away with a lot, like he could kill everyone."

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.

The Globe reports that a former MIT chemist caused an all-out evacuation of her Temple Street brownstone by conducting some freelance science experiments. The woman, who has not been identified by name, had mixed a cocktail of chemicals on the floor of her apartment, directly behind the State House.

--The Department of Social Services, whose name has come up more than once in investigations of the deaths of children in this state, received a D minus from the watchdog group the Children's Advocacy Institute. [Boston Herald, DSS in Bostonist]

Despite evidence to the contrary, we know that the State House is bigger than two men, more than just a turf battle between Governor Deval Patrick and Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi. For example: it also includes Speaker Pro Tempore Thomas Petrolati.

If the crocuses and unexpected sunshine haven't clued you in, robbery suspect Timothy Flaherty, 51 of Lawrence, has provided further evidence that spring is upon us. Last night, after allegedly robbing a victim on Beacon Hill, Flaherty led police on a wild chase through the Common and the Public Garden before diving into the Frog Pond Lagoon to elude capture. (We assume that it looks much bigger in the dark.)

Deval Patrick isn't the first person to get into casino-related trouble, though few of us had to be publicly confronted with our regrettable outcomes the way Deval Patrick did. Eager to move past his failed plan to create much needed revenue for the Commonwealth through gaming, Patrick gave a major economic address yesterday at MIT.

On Tuesday we wrote about how Governor Deval Patrick's intellectually lazy casino job creation numbers gave ammunition to the skeptical of gambling Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi. Yesterday, however, Patrick got some good news from the Chamber of Commerce, who released numbers much more helpful to his cause.

Sean Garballey, 23, a grad student at Suffolk, soundly defeated two opponents yesterday to gain a seat in the commonwealth's House of Representatives. Garballey will represent Arlington and part of Medford.

City Councilor Michael Ross has a new project--the beautification of Beacon Hill.

Bostonist knows a girl who once got lingerie on Valentine's Day from her Dunkin' Donuts guy. They weren't dating or anything. He just thought a bra & panty set was an appropriate "getting to know you" gift.

--Fires ran rampant yesterday. A mother and her son were injured last night in a fire in Somerville. One firefighter was treated and released at the hospital. [Boston Globe] --Another fire broke out in Haverhill last night, and people were injured jumping out of the windows. No one died in the blaze, but 24 people have lost their homes. [Boston Globe, Boston Herald] --The state Supreme Judicial Court is letting Heidi Erickson, who kept...

In Cambridge, some residents are irritated by the sound of leaf blowers--as opposed to all the other noises one can hear in Cambridge. So, the City Council is spending its valuable time debating when and where the dastardly leaf blowers can be used. According to Matt Dunning at the Cambridge Chronicle, the City Council spent the "better part of two hours" discussing how strong bans on leaf blowers should be. Exceptions to the ban kept...

Imagine that you're stuck on the Green Line, wedged in between two people yammering away on their cell phones, and one of them is stinky. Each stop seems to last for an hour. When you reach your destination, you think to yourself, "I could have walked there in half the time." You were probably right. The Brookings Institution has declared Boston America's second-most walkable city, second only to DC, and Beacon Hill as one of...

The Thomas Crown Affair and The Friends of Eddie Coyle Brattle Theatre, Harvard Square, Cambridge Wednesday-Thursday Showtimes and tickets Millionaire Beacon Hill residents have a lot of time on their hands. Who can blame them if they use it plotting bank heists? Norman Jewison's The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), which screens tonight and tomorrow at the Brattle, doesn't point any fingers. It's a schizophrenic movie with a paper thin plot and a clumsy script. Thomas...

Living in the 'hood of Beacon Hill is rough. The Charles Street Doggz must cope with prying eyes, envious gazes, pedestrians who aren't wearing Lilly Pulitzer, and now the noisy beeps made by crosswalks. The Charles Street Doggz immediately investigated the situation and discovered those crosswalks were beeping so blind people would know when to cross the street. The Charles Street Doggz were faced with a tough choice--themselves or the blind. So they complained to...

--A man became Boston's 48th murder victim this year when he was shot in front of the Quick Stop Market in Dorchester last night. He has not yet been identified. --A hunter discovered human remains off Route 122 in Rutland on Monday afternoon. The body has been identified as Linieda Gonzalez, of Worcester, who has been missing since February. She also went by the name of Linieda Olivera. Gonzalez/Olivera may be the latest victim of...

Protestors on Beacon Hill voiced their opposition to a great many things today—gay marriage, a proposed (and soon defeated) ballot question on gay marriage, Nazism, and even specific sexual positions:...

Thanks to Universal Hub (great detective work Adam) we're now a little more self-aware; a better scope of the breadth of what we do over here on this little corner of the internet has been uncovered. For a while we thought it was all typos and quickly written blurbs about news, sports, and current haps in and around Boston. Apparently Google is listing www.bostonist.com alongside the street address for Boston City of: Homicide Unit...

Today a tremendous crowd* turned out in Boston to protest the Iraq War, to support our troops who are risking their lives, and to express their anger at the Bush administration for starting it. Many of those in attendance didn't stop with Bush, Cheney, & Co. - they also railed at the Democrat-controlled legislature, whom they feel aren't working enough to stop the war. At first, it seemed as if the rally would be...

We can't make fun of Senate President Robert Travaglini, lovingly known as "T-Vag," anymore. T-Vag (not to be confused with "T-Weed" of I Love New York fame) has announced that he's leaving that he is leaving the guv'mint for a higher-paying job. $90,000 dollars a year wasn't enough for him, so he's moving on to bigger and better things. The Globe says T-Vag will launch "a lobbying company that would help clients navigate the political...

Front page news this morning was that Deval Patrick was making some staffing changes in his administration. The dirty-laundry list of mistakes was aired on radio and listed in the dailies – the Caddy, the drapes, the $70k assistant for the first lady, helicopter rides, and that phone call. Looking for a bit of a fresh start for the executive branch he's boosted some Beacon Hill veterans to help him walk much more carefully. Joe...

Anytime we hear about diplomats we always think about those episodes of Law & Order where they get away with crimes or that extra special perk they've got that allows them to park illegally outside of the UN without getting parking tickets or towed. Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross are often issued diplomatic visas and passports from their home countries. Boston City Councilors are not. Councilor Michael Ross has been banking...