Ever "Written to the Top" to complain to the MBTA that a bus or train you expected never arrived? And maybe, just maybe, they wrote back in apology? It's likely they did it on purpose, according to a Herald article: Top MBTA officials acknowledge that for years the agency has been secretly cutting thousands of bus and train trips from published schedules to lower costs - a practice that has left legions of customers waiting......

--MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas has received plenty of angry e-mails in his time, and should be able to take some serious heat. But he is furious about an e-mail from a Department of Corrections employee that got way too personal. Grabauskas is gay, and the e-mailer used anti-gay slurs about Grabauskas when describing MBTA service. Now Grabauskas is upset with Deval Patrick and his administration for not doing something about it sooner. The......

--The Mattapan teenager who was shot in the jaw yesterday has not been named but was a student and basketball player at Charlestown High. Also yesterday, a man was stabbed last night on Cambridge Street, and he is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. --An armed robbery happened at the Au Bon Pain at Harvard Square the night of November 19. Matt Dunning Erin Smith at the Cambridge Chronicle reports that three masked robbers "tied......

The wife of Marquis Barker, the corrections officer who stole a police cruiser and was shot by police Wednesday, wants to know what happened. She said to reporters, "Eighteen years in law enforcement, and this is what he gets? Shot in the head?… Taser the man. Handcuff him, and put him down on the ground. Get him to a medical facility." Evidence discussed so far indicates that Barker's behavior that night is baffling. He had......

-- Police shot and killed a corrections officer last night. Marquis Barker, 38, an officer at Nashua Street Jail, was gunned down after stealing a police cruiser and leading officers on a chase through Dorchester and Mattapan. Police responding to calls found Barker out of control outside his Dorchester home, wielding what appeared to be a handgun. Barker begged police to shoot and kill him before escaping in the police cruiser. After crashing the cruiser......

The Phoenix posted the tenth annual Muzzle Awards. The listing, compiled by Media Nation blogger Dan Kennedy, showcases the offenses against free speech by local individuals and organizations. An apropos way to celebrate liberty for the Fourth of July. He gets the Muzzle this year by stifling the free speech of former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami by refusing to provide state-police protection to the visiting former head of state. Boston Police stepped up to provide......

--Sean Stevens and Peter Berdvosky can breathe a sigh of relief now that they are officially off the blotter with a slap on the wrist. The artists who were hired by the Cartoon Network and Interference, Inc., to hang the Mooninites throughout Boston will do community service. Instead of offering the public another '70s hair comedy routine, the two had more substantial things to say this time around. The Herald quoted Stevens as saying, "I......

Since November the Boston Police Department has been bringing a little bit of the blotter to the blogosphere. Reports of daily incidents, updates on publicly reported crime, announcements, and media corrections have been available on the BPDNews.com website. As usual Hollywood, well, LA, is getting all the attention. The AP picked up a story last week emanating from the LA Times and the Times of London about the Los Angeles Police Departments new blog. Apparently......

The papers report today that an inmate in a Massachusetts state prison, doing a life term for the murder of his wife, is suing the Department of Corrections to force it to provide a sex change operation as part of his medical care. Naturally, this is not the first case of this kind to reach the federal courts. Nevertheless, there seems to be no sure answer as to whether the inmate, Robert/Michelle Kosilek, will prevail.......

Bostonist loves a good book and we find extra comfort when that good book is written by a local Boston author. To help celebrate Picador Publishing's 10th anniversary in the literary world, they have offered up some free books to you readers out there. Who is this oh-so-generous publishing house, you might ask? Well, Picador is an imprint of Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, and has published some of Bostonist's favorite novels (The Corrections, Running With......

When Jenn Abelson called Bostonist last week, we told her the same thing we’re about to tell you, dear reader. Bostonist adheres to the Gothamist Family policy on tit-for-tat, quid pro quo, and pay-for-post entries in our little corner of the internet. Abelson’s article, "For a fee, some blogs boost firms: Concerns raised on disclosure," has caused a little bit of a stir in the local blogosphere. With the experience outlined by Susan Kaup on......