--Old hotness: Late trains on the Worcester-Framingham line. New hotness: Changing the timetables so they don't look late anymore. [WBZ] --House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi has offered up a budget with a sizable tax cut for corporations that would drop the percentage from 9.5 percent to 7 percent. Let's see--the state is in a budget crunch, so he wants a tax cut? The budget also didn't include casino licenses, which sets up another Battle Royale......

--Word is out that former House Speaker and current WRKO radio-show host is going to drop his plans to become a lobbyist, finally realizing that lobbying while being a talking head might be a conflict of interest. Adam G. joked, "The WRKO job must pay more." [Boston Globe, Universal Hub] --Former Massachusetts governor and now former presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he won't try to be vice-president. But he's changed his mind before. [WCVB]......

--Are you a smoker? House Speaker Sal DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray are considering raising the cigarette tax. [Boston Globe] --The head of the firefighters union is blaming the press for their current bad reputation. Would it be too terrible of a pun to say, in defense of the media, that where there's smoke, there's fire? [Boston Globe] --An 83-year-old woman was crossing train tracks in Medford when she was hit by an......

--A Brazilian doctor pled guilty today of manslaughter after allegedly killing a woman in a botched liposuction surgery that took place in a Framingham house in 2006. However, the judge has rejected the guilty plea. [WBZ] --The elderly and disabled are understandably unhappy that the Rolling Rally will be held the same day as Super Tuesday should the New England Patriots win the Super Bowl. During a Rolling Rally, it is impossible to cross......

Today, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi presented a major renewable energy bill today that will be debated next week. Right after DiMasi's announcement and also in the State House, authors Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb gave a presentation to legislators about a specific way to achieve that goal--investment in wind energy. ...

--Forget Ed Davis. The Scottsdale, Arizona, police department wants you. Brian McGrory writes in the Globe about seeing an ad for joining the police force – yes, Scottsdale, Arizona - in one of the men's toilets at Fenway Park. It probably doesn't get any more "Boston" than the men's toilet at Fenway, so why on earth would Scottsdale be advertising there? McGrory called them and found they're doing it because they've got the money. And......

Remember a month ago when Bostonist told you that the legislature had finally hammered out a compromise healthcare bill? Well, they actually finally passed it into law today. As expected, the bill will require everyone in the Commonwealth to obtain healthcare, somehow, and would force employers with more than ten employees who don't provide healthcare to pay a yearly assessment of $295 per uninsured employee. Legislative leaders and the governor predictably patted themselves on the......

Are you tired of hearing about healthcare yet? Bostonist is, but the state legislature persists (we'd be much happier if they would spend some time trying to provide all Mass. residents with affordable beer, cookies, and bears that ride bicycles). Yesterday, you may recall, House Speaker Sal DiMasi proposed a healthcare plan that would have made most businesses pay a tax if they didn't provide healthcare to their employees. During the day yesterday, while Bostonist......

Yesterday was a big day in town. Former House Speaker Tom Finneran, hands down one of the most powerful politicians in the Commonwealth for nearly a decade, plead not guilty at a preliminary hearing on federal perjury charges. Now, in case you've been living under a rock for the past couple years, Republican U.S. Attorney and possible gubernatorial hopeful Michael Sullivan has accused Finneran of lying about his involvement in the 2001 Massachusetts legislative redistricting......