--One would think that Boston would be prepared to handle snow. But it isn't a good sign when headlines read "what went wrong." [Boston Globe] --It also isn't a good sign when kids don't get home until 11:30 pm because of the weather. [Boston Globe] --A mistrial has been declared in the second trial for Alexander Pring-Wilson, who was convicted of manslaughter for the 2003 stabbing of Michael Colono in Cambridge, but who was granted......

--The Legislature is going to consider banning spanking tomorrow. That's spanking of children, not "please, sir, may I have another" frat-spanking or whatever role-playing you do with your significant other. [WCVB] --A man's SUV became stuck on train tracks in Beverly last night just as a commuter train was heading toward him. He escaped in the nick of time. His SUV got creamed. [Photo-WCVB] --The Roman Catholic Archdiocese plans to close at least two schools......

The Sox got the message. After making decisions that led to the breakup of the 2004 champs, like letting Pedro (which we grudgingly understood) and Johnny Damon (hey, how's that working out for you anyway, Johnny?) leave, Sox fans stood as one and declared that if they didn't bring back World Series MVP, great fielding, clutch hitting, hard working, popular Mike Lowell, we'd...be pretty unhappy. So Mike Lowell will be right where he belongs next......

Marilyn Devaney, city councilor of Watertown and the star of "Curlergate," is running for re-election in the city. Lately, she's been in the headlines for campaigning strongly on behalf of Watertown's Armenian community to achieve recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Had Devaney, the same woman who allegedly threw a curling iron at a Sally's Beauty Supply clerk turned over a new leaf? Apparently not. H2otown ran a poll asking its readers if they would vote......

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist's lives. When they're not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they're watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist......

Our Senators, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, are catching some heat for an earmark on a transportation bill designed to help prevent delays at airport hubs. The earmark is for $8 million, which is peanuts in guv'mint terms, but that $8 million isn't going to Logan--it's going to airports in Barnstable and Nantucket. And Barnstable and Nantucket are hardly "hubs." Money flowing into Massachusetts is a good thing, but an $8 million earmark for Barnstable......

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city's attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just......

--Because some teenage bonehead with an anger-management problem and a gun shot popular Pop Warner coach Myron Stovell in the leg, Boston Pop Warner games will be getting a police detail. Way to ruin the fun for everyone. The alleged shooter is currently being held without bail. He is not being identified because he is a juvenile. The press release from the DA's office confirms that the shooter got angry after Stovell accidentally hit the......

Anyone who questions that old phrase "idle hands are the devil's tools" ought to take a look at what happens in sports cities when the games are in desperately short supply. When no one's playing, people get ansty. They start speculating. Guessing. Predicting. Complaining - and no good can come of that. We need sports action, people! Thank goodness the Bruins are set to answer the call tonight, when they face off on the ice......

Boston Comedy Festival Preliminary Rounds --Monday, October 8, Comedy Connection, Faneuil Hall, 7:00 and 9:00 pm --Tuesday, October 9, Comedy Connection, Faneuil Hall, 7:00 and 9:00 pm --Wednesday, October 10, Comedy Connection, Faneuil Hall, 7:00 and 9:00 pm All tickets for the preliminaries are $15 The comics rush up onstage and change right before your eyes. One moment, they gaze into the camera and at the audience like classic deer before headlines. Then, an internal......

Forget for a moment the questions still lingering around the Red Sox. We know about those. Let's take a brief look at the angst-ridden article in today's LA Times about the myriad questions swirling around our first-round opponents, the AnaheimOrWhatever Angels. They don't know who's starting when (OK, neither do we). Two of their key sluggers, Vlad Guerrero and Gary Matthews, are nursing injuries and may not be 100% (hey, just like Manny!). Will their......

Bridget Moynahan, Tom Brady's ex and baby mama, and little John Edward Thomas Moynahan will be on the cover of OK! Magazine tomorrow in a set of exclusive photos. OK! Magazine belongs to the Cult of Celebrity Momma Worship. Moms rule - only if they're famous. Just like so many celeb rags, OK! focuses on how mothers lose baby weight, chatters over baby bumps, and delivers cringe-worthy feature headlines like "J-Lo Looks Preg-O!" Somehow, linking......

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. LAist saw national headlines soar this week with......

"Authorial Intent" is Bostonist's attempt to bring you the best readings in the area, all tied up with a shiny bow. Diane Ackerman, Wednesday, September 19, 7:00 pm, Harvard Book Store. More info. In The Zookeeper's Wife, fiction writer, nonfiction writer, and poet Ackerman returns with the true story of zookeepers in Poland during World War II who hid Jews from the Nazis. The LA Times calls the novel "a shining book beyond category." Jonathan......

--Massholes Behind the Wheel: A driver was so appalled by another driver that he called the phone number on the side of the truck. (Apparently the phone number wasn't 1-800-EAT-SHIT.) Anyway, instead of reaching an operator or supervisor, the bad driver himself answered and was surprised that another driver would dare question his driving. The BPD report notes that the truck driver argued with the other driver - with whom he was still sharing the......

Tom Brady has had a lot on his mind as of late: the upcoming Pats season, the new arrival of lil' JET Moynahan, making sure to spend enough quality time with Gisele Bundchen. We get it. It's tough to be a multi-millionaire football star, famous hottie and anything-but-typical Boston guy. But this flip-flopping business has got to stop. Boston.com features today some photos of Tom and Gisele hanging out Wednesday in the Back Bay, and......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

Green Kool-Aid is our favorite flavor. (Yes, Green is a flavor.) We've been chugging the semi-sour variety of it for three years now, as Danny Ainge has told us that we'd been assembling key parts for a magical youth movement that would lead the Celtics back to glory. And we've sipped the ultra-sour variety for a month, trying to figure out what kind of a youth movement features a creaky 32-year-old shooter. But today, the......

Correction: We had an image of James Albrecht, which we put in our standard top left (or right) corner for the Blotter. We've replaced it with crime-scene tape. As a commenter pointed out, the image and the headline have nothing to do with each other, and the positioning might cause someone to mix up the stories, so we replaced it. Apologies for any confusion. --The hunt is on for a man who raped a 67-year-old......

Just over a week ago the Globe brought us the discouraging story that Mitt Romeny used to take the Romney family vacations with their pet strapped atop the family station wagon back in the 80's. The tales of flip-flopping positions on contentious political issues haven't grabbed the spotlight quite as well as poor treatment of the family dog. Politicians have been famous for their pets, Nixon had Checkers and Clinton had Socks and a whole......

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network. It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by......

The Red Sox have been living large off of the Foes' inferior bullpens all season. Sadly, what goes around came around last night. The unstoppable Okajima and unbeatable Papelbon were respectively stopped and beaten by the Yankees, who took 2 out of 3 from the Sox for the second straight series. This one was a typical Sox-Yankees seesaw affair. Josh Beckett pitched well, but spotted the Yanks a 4-0 lead. But the Sox got it......

Things weren't exactly what one could consider promising yesterday afternoon, a few hours before the Red Sox and Yankees kicked off their series opener here in Boston. The skies were growling and peppered with sunshowers. Many of us were murmuring about whether we thought Alex Rodriguez was going to pull a stunt on the field (and whether Dustin Pedroia would be the first to lead the counter-attack). Starting pitcher Tim Wakefield was set to enter......

Vincent Bugliosi will read from Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy on Tuesday, May 22, at 6:00 pm at the Brattle Theatre. Tickets are $5 and are available at Harvard Book Store. Vincent Bugliosi was the prosecutor in the Manson trials, the author of Helter Skelter, and the author of The Betrayal of America, on the mess that was the 2000 presidential election. The LA Times waxes rhapsodic about him: "Vincent Bugliosi is......

At first, Bill Linehan looked like an underdog to us since his opponent, Susan Passoni, won all the endorsements. However, he won the race last night, 53 percent to 46 percent. The Globe focused on how Linehan conducted a more old-school, door-to-door campaign and simply got out more supporters. It was also clear that the vote split along South End / South Boston lines. In the future, it would be nice to see the occasional......

American troops keep dying in Iraq, and that includes several troops from Massachusetts. A Lawrence family is left wondering if their son is dead or captured, and a well-known BU professor who spoke out against the war lost his son. Alex Jimenez of Lawrence is one of three soldiers who are missing after an ambush in Mahmoudiya that left four soldiers and a translator dead. One soldier who has died has not been identified, which......

We saw headlines that the protests of Bio 2007 were "modest." And then we saw the headline that police had to don their riot gear for a protest at Faneuil Hall last night. The Herald also noted the presence of a police helicopter above the hall. The Herald described the police-protester clash: "In a tense encounter, 50 protesters made their way to State Street near Fanueil Hall last night at 9, yelling expletives at a......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

The brouhaha over Curt Schilling's sock is heating up. We're still waiting for the man himself to chime in, but Baltimore broadcaster Gary Thorne, suggesting that Curt painted on fake blood, has really gotten the Sox to circle the wagons. Dr. Bill Morgan performed the procedure, which fixed up Schill's ankle with toothpaste, popsicle sticks and duct tape, and said that he is utterly convinced that the blood was real. Doug Mirabelli, who, being Italian......

--Finally, we have some light blotter news - old-school public drunkenness. The BPD has cheered us up with one of their funniest headlines in recent memory: "Overnight Accommodations Granted to Wild Reveler." At the Breezeway Bar in Roxbury, someone was crossing the line between happy drunk and angry drunk. The angry drunk was trying to attack one person and then "started tapping officers on the chest." Unfortunately, the BPD did not use its favorite phrase......