Governor Deval Patrick signed the Massachusetts budget today, vetoing over $120 million in pet projects earmarked by his legislators. Critics have said that the state's budget is bloated and even the cuts Patrick made today won't be enough to compensate. Perhaps in part because of this, Patrick is asking the legislature to grant him the power to make additional budget cuts throughout the year. Blue Mass Group has most of the nitty gritty; the full......

Two more Boston cafes are cited for health code violations -- at City Hall and at the Inspectional Services building. [Boston Globe] The lousy roads in Massachusetts are costing drivers approximately $718 million in additional repairs. [WBZ Radio] In another move that appears to be a genuine attempt at governing the commonwealth, Deval Patrick will offer 50+ education-related proposals this week. [Boston Globe] Quentin Tarantino spent the weekend in Provincetown with John Waters. The......

Manny sat out today's game with an icy hamstring. [Red Sox] Marriage is not necessarily any awesomer for gay people than it is for straight ones. [New York Times] The Patricks march in the Pride Parade. (Stay tuned for our parade gallery!) [WBZTV] The MBTA caught on fire. Again. Maybe it should be news if a week passes without something going up in flames? [WBZTV] New Hampshire man who rubbed elbows with Thomas Edison......

Bay Windows has the exclusive scoop on the sexual orientation of Deval Patrick's daughter, Katherine. She's come out as a lesbian just in time for this weekend's Pride Parade and related Pride Week festivities. Deval and his wife are being appropriately supportive, for which we commend them. In the interview, Katherine reveals that watching her father cheer the defeat of same-sex marriage ban in June 2007 was a moment of pride for her, especially as......

--Why does Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray have all this money in his coffers? Might the Herald be right in wondering if Deval Patrick will take a post in a potential Obama cabinet? [Boston Herald] --Elsewhere in the Patrick administration, Deval Patrick is taking a sick day. Quick--cross-check his calendar with Obama's! [Boston Globe] --Meanwhile, Patrick's frenemy, House Speaker Sal DiMasi, has been talking about the proposal to repeal the state's income tax, calling it......

At the moment, it isn't clear that the fatal trolley accident that killed Green Line driver Terrese Edmonds had anything to do with MBTA manager Dan Grabauskas. But the spotlight is on him after so many ugly Green Line incidents, producing an article from the Herald's Dave Wedge indicating that, if Governor Deval Patrick decided he wanted to replace Grabauskas--and he might--it wouldn't be easy: For one, Grabauskas has a contract with two years left,......

--Obligatory stories about high gas prices over Memorial Day. Thanks to high gas prices, now you have to dig for conversation topics with family members at home instead of on the Cape. [Boston Herald] --Did Mayor Menino just call Bill Clinton "Big Daddy"? [Boston Globe] --Governor Deval Patrick is in trouble again for spending like a drunken sailor. Dan Kennedy suggests he may have a "tin ear." Then again, it's Menino who called Bill......

--So, there's a guy who comes to the United States from another nation, and he puts in his time. He works hard, and he commits a grand public service that few American citizens are brave enough to try--teach high school. And what does he get for his trouble? Deported. [Boston Globe] --The new head of the RMV, Rachel Kaprielian, who was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick, knows a lot about driving and the law.......

As the reign of Sal DiMasi as house speaker appears to be in peril, Governor Deval Patrick isn't laughing at his nemesis. He's going out there and reviving the issue of bringing casinos to Massachusetts, which DiMasi squashed so recently. This morning, he brought up the issue again in front of the Brookline Chamber of Commerce. The AP is reporting that "he thinks an unyielding need for property tax relief, the possibility of slot machines......

Remember how we said yesterday that House speaker Sal DiMasi's free ride might be ending? Well, it came to a screeching halt, just as he was named the 2nd most powerful person in Boston. The Herald came out with a summary of potentially shady dealings in which those with ties to DiMasi benefitted. No politician has clean hands, but it's interesting that Governor Deval Patrick faced relentless scrutiny for relatively silly stuff like Drapegate while......

--Boston is a city that plays fast and loose with traffic laws, but the city needs money, so that's about to stop. The City Council is considering increasing fines for jaywalking and actually enforcing the rules. [WCVB] --After Caddygate and Drapegate and the casino mess, Governor Deval Patrick probably thought the media was going easy on his nemesis, House Speaker Sal DiMasi. But the free ride might be over. [Boston Globe, Boston Herald] --Norman......

--For once, you might actually want to drink the local water, if you're passing through Southampton. [WBZ] --Take a look at your checking account. The state might have billed you not once, but twice, for your taxes. [WCVB] --Governor Deval Patrick has an Earth Day present for us: "Patrick highlighted a planned $5 million park along the Neponset River between Mattapan Square and Hyde Park." [Boston Herald] --WHDH General Manager Randi Goldklank was placed......

--Thanks to the recession we're not in, teens will have fewer summer jobs. And bored teens sometimes become restless teens whom no one wants in their yards. [Boston Globe] --Mayor Menino testified before congress yesterday that there needs to be "common sense federal action" to keep illegal guns off the streets. [Boston Globe] --The game of chess between Governor Deval Patrick and House Speaker Sal DiMasi continues. DiMasi wants to cut the $213 million......

--Total commuter hell broke out today with a tractor rollover that blocked the Mass Pike, along with dodginess on the Blue Line that left, according to one individual, "hundreds of people" stranded at the Airport T stop. [WHDH, b0st0n LiveJournal] --Speaking of transportation, an engineering firm has recommended the installation of 900 support anchors in the Ted Williams Tunnel to make up for the fact that some parts of the ceiling can't be inspected.......

This Bostonist always pictured solar panels being best-suited to dot the rooftops of sun-baked, equatorial locales. But according to the Associated Press (via the Herald), the Commonwealth is quickly becoming a leader in solar energy. The AP piece talked to one solar executive whose biggest customer is Germany--not a country known for its tropical lifestyle. He says that, "Solar works better when you have cool, sunny days, so a solar system here in Massachusetts,......

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. A day after the House passed Patrick's tax plan (some corporate taxes went up, smokers got another thing to complain about while shivering outside), a key DiMasi legislative ally takes a......

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. Patrick's speech (text here, video here) lists $344 million in budget cuts, a several billion dollar infrastructure improvement plan,......

--A student from Hingham died early this morning after "he apparently jumped out the 17th-floor window of a dormitory" at UMass-Amherst. [Boston Globe, tip board] --Governor Deval Patrick is preparing to tighten the state's belt if tax revenues don't hold steady. [AP/Boston Globe] --It took sky-high gas prices for it to happen, but more people are riding the MBTA. Now we'll see how the MBTA holds up with the rise in riders and if......

--Governor Deval Patrick scored a book deal worth $1.35 million for his autobiography. [Boston Globe, background: Bostonist] --A frightening time in Chicopee yesterday. A gasoline tanker truck exploded after rolling over, killing the driver and "sending a fireball 60 feet in the air." The accident began when the tanker driver tried to avoid an accident in front of him. The driver worked for the same company that owned the truck in the Everett tanker......

If the state is broke-ass, then we need to start saving some money, and the governor and legislators are looking at the always-controversial police details. Those new to Massachusetts might wonder why police officers are often at construction sites instead of the usual flagman or flagwoman. Well, police must be at those sites, and officers make a lot of money on the job. However, flagmen or flagwomen are a lot cheaper, and a new bill......

Last week Governor Deval Patrick took "personal days" as the casino plan he had been pitching for six months was going down in flames. Today the Associated Press reveals that during that time Patrick was out of state pitching an autobiography to New York publishers. This is another public relations blunder for the governor, whose political problems were laid out on the front page of the New York Times yesterday. Though the debate over......

We feel an illogical sense of pride when our local politicians are covered in the national media. It validates our process somehow. Not to get carried away, but maybe one of these years a Massachusetts leader will even run for President! Perchance to dream. Governor Deval Patrick is the subject of a story in today's New York Times, which contrasts Patrick's growing mainstream profile as a Barack Obama friend, surrogate and rhetorical inspiration with......

MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas isn't the only one saying that we're broke. The entire state is broke and in even bigger trouble that you might think. Yes, we're talking "broke-ass." If you thought we were in a budget crisis, wait until you read today's paper. Matt Viser at the Globe reports on how Massachusetts' problems are being magnified by the nation's problems. The state is drowning in debt, and it's only going to get......

Last week, all of the talk was about Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi's demolition of Governor Deval Patrick's casino plan. He was credited with spearheading the movement against what had been the highest profile piece of the governor's plan to boost the Bay State economy. In the wake of his defeat, Patrick sent an e-mail Saturday to supporters from his election campaign that didn't mention DiMasi by name but suggested that the process......

--More from the pillow fight! --The fallout continues over Governor Deval Patrick's failed casino proposal and House Speaker Sal DiMasi's success in stopping it. Dan Kennedy has called DiMasi a "Bare-Knuckles Do-Gooder." But the Herald notes that those who voted against the proposal may have received certain rewards. [Media Nation / Boston Herald] --Boston College law professors now want to uninvite Attorney General Michael Mukasey from giving the commencement address since he won't say......

After all those light-hearted jokes at the St. Patrick's Day breakfast, during which governor Deval Patrick and house speaker Sal DiMasi playfully sparred over the casino issue, Patrick's casino-license proposal got shot down in the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, making Sal DiMasi the winner in this round. A turncoat was in the mix. A state rep from Wrentham, Richard J. Ross, told Patrick he would vote in favor of the casinos,......

After six months of political posturing and economic predictions, it appears that King Sal, Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi, will continue to reign over a Commonwealth free from casino wealth. The Globe and the Herald report that Governor Deval Patrick's plan to bring three casinos to the Bay State would almost certainly be defeated in a House vote, if it even survives the Economic Development Committee today. King Sal turned the casino debate......

--St. Patrick's Day, of course! Platinum Elite has wonderful photos and commentary from the parade. We were particularly enamored of the Elvis sighting. [Platinum Elite] --Other kudos to Pax Arcana's fond memories of the holiday. Bring the Pepto to the Purple Shamrock, folks! [Pax Arcana] --While it's cool that governor Deval Patrick is heading over to New York state to attend the swearing-in of the state's new governor, David Paterson, we're not quite sure......

For this one green day every year, Southie becomes the center of Boston's cultural and political life, and the Dropkick Murphys get more work than Eliot Spitzer's call girl. (Cue rimshot/hysterical laughter.) The annual St. Patrick's Day breakfast turns everyone into a comedian, as our favorite politicians gather to roast each other and celebrate all things Irish. The Dropkick Murphys did a couple of numbers, but the big story--with casino hearings planned for this......

We can barely muster the energy to post again about the great 2008 casino debate. If only we could focus on the important issues facing our society, like the profound need for healthier donuts. The buzz today is about meetings that Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi has been having with fellow lawmakers in advance of next week's casino hearings. Pro-casino forces claim that DiMasi is "strong-arming colleagues into killing the proposal." Here's a......