Star Simpson, the MIT student whose light-up T-shirt caused a panic when she wore it to Logan Airport, appeared in court today. She asked for the charges to be dropped because the shirt was a form of free speech and that she had worn it days before without it causing a problem. Here's the update from the AP/WBZ: Thomas Dwyer Jr., a lawyer for Simpson, said his client didn't think her shirt would scare anyone.......

--Facts of Life plus puns doesn't seem like it would be that funny. Oh, but it is! [Derspatchel] --A look at why people are going to remember Heath Ledger for reasons beyond the initial shock of a sudden celebrity death. [VickieVictoria] --Phew. The MBTA can spell after all. That anorexic font is still unappealing, though. [b0st0n LiveJournal] --Did Tom Brady get his flowers for Gisele Bundchen at Stop & Shop? [Anali's First Amendment] Think your......

This week, Phillyist saw the waters of a landmark fountain run red for a Showtime marketing stunt, the Phils pull ahead, and some serious nostalgia. They also got a chance to review an awesome tribute album, reminded folks to see the King and appreciated their beautiful skyline. Chicagoist knows what it's like to like the Cubs. But naming your kid Wrigley Fields? At least they can breathe a little easier now that Grossman's out and......

Officials at Tufts University moved to uphold the first amendment after student-faculty groups tried to block racist, unsigned pieces from appearing in campus media. It all started when The Primary Source, a conservative outlet, published "O Come All Ye Black Folk" and a piece about violence in Islam. You can guess where they were going with those. Whoever wrote the pieces didn't have the cojones to put their name or names on it. The Committee......

Just over a year ago (in June 2006) the ACLU threatened the MBTA with a lawsuit, alleging that their unwritten policy against amateur photography on the nation's oldest subway system was unconstitutional. Specifically the ACLU asserted that it was a violation of the first amendment rights (free speech specifically, though a fair argument could be made for freedom of press, we challenge you to give us a legitimate application for freedom of religion.) The......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

The spring semester is just underway. The student population has brought back an influx of students into Boston and across the Commonwealth. But a student, Brian Marquis, at UMass Amherst won't let the fall semester go. He's holding on and disputing a grade he received. He's exchanged the emails with the TA, talked to various higher-ups in the department, and taken it to the next step. He's filed grievance in the courts – fifteen counts......

On Tuesday, the American -ists will be celebrating democracy and hitting the polls, letting politicians know what they really think. It just made us wonder: if it were up to the -ist-a-verse, what would we be voting for? Londonist votes for better skincare, alternative spaces for art, cute little birds and the men who keep them, and concrete. Lots of concrete. Shanghaiist votes for one of the Bee Gees and Air Supply (it's a double-ticket),......

Amateur photographers have lately discovered that the MBTA has a longstanding, unwritten prohibition on the taking of photographs on T property. We read in today's Globe that the ACLU is now getting in on the act, threatening to sue for a violation of the First Amendment unless the T abandons its policy. According to the T, exceptions are made for tourists taking family pictures of particular places in the system, but no one can......

So Bostonist was sitting on a stoop on Newbury Street yesterday afternoon, waiting for some coworkers who foolishly thought they could get to Upper Crust from Government Center faster on the T than we could on our bike. As we soaked in the sun and enjoyed the parade of shopping-bag-laden, wealthy foreigners, we had the additional pleasure of witnessing a drama with three distinctly Bostonian elements: Parking, profanity, and difficult race relations. Allow us to......

The new and improved (?) Supreme Court dropped a decision yesterday that has a ton of relevance to the Boston area, ruling that it is constitutional for Congress to require law schools to give access to military recruiters, even if the schools have a general policy banning employers who, like the military, discriminate against homosexuals. The law schools' theory was that a rule requiring them to let bigots on campus forced them to endorse the......

Whew! Bostonist was worried for a minute that gay marriage and related issues might stay out of the headlines for too long, but the good folks at the Catholic Church seldom let us down. The bishops of Massachusetts's four archdioceses have announced their plan to seek an exemption for Catholic Charities from the state rule (in .pdf form) forbidding licensed adoption agencies from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. As you might have guessed,......

These days, Bostonist has noticed much talking-head time devoted to journalists' right to keep their sources confidential (if, in fact, such a right exists). Apparently, Senate President Robert Travaglini has also noticed, as he proposed a bill yesterday that would provide solid legal protection to journalists (as opposed to the less-than-certain First Amendment protection they've had to rely on up until now). Being pseudo-journalists ourselves, Bostonist tends to think this proposal is a good idea......

Our dear old Supreme Judicial Court, whose decisions so frequently bring ire to Americans outside the Commonwealth borders (and, to a lesser degree, to those within it), won a little victory yesterday, much to the chagrin of journalists everywhere. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take an appeal from the SJC by the Boston Globe, after the paper lost a libel suit and had to pay $1.68 million to a doctor implicated in the death......

Among other interesting rulings this month, the Supreme Court held Monday that displays of the Ten Commandments on public property are unconstitutional . . . except when they're not. In two cases, the Court approved an big stone rendering of the Commandments in a park surrounding the Texas state capitol, but rejected the posting of the commandments in Kentucky courtrooms. The unlikely swing vote in this confusing mess was Massachusetts' own Justice Stephen Breyer, who......

There’s nothing like a little (*ahem*) VB roaming around in Beacon Hill to get you going in the morning. Nothing like it, except for Bob Lobel’s sports commentary on WBZ 4’s Sports Final. Well, OK, there’s something a bit more idiotic about those live on location spots that VB has used to spice up Fox 25’s morning newscast. Bostonist has been known on a number of occasions to sit in front of the TV and......