--So NOW Sal DiMasi wants to strike a deal on gambling? Guess we've learned one thing during the recent DiMasi stories. What happens in the State House stays in the State House. [Boston Herald] --McCourt Construction Company has pled guilty to overbilling for the work of Big Dig employees. What they billed, though--$314,494--seems like small potatoes compared to the alleged spending shenanigans of other Big Dig contractors. [Bloomberg/Boston Globe] --Traffic is down a little......

Well, City Councilor John Tobin has a solution for low voter turnout, and it's not a MoFee Style Public Kvetch-Fest. If Mayor Tom Menino thought he didn't like the idea of Kvetch-Fest 2008, he must have blown his stack when he heard what Councilor Tobin proposed. Tobin wants to limit mayoral and city council terms to 12 years. Menino, who is an institution along the lines of the Old South Meeting House, has already served......

Councilor John Tobin thinks that Dominic Luberto, the man whose "Christmas Castle" bathes Jamaica Plain in holiday light, is courting disaster. Tobin wants Luberto to hire a police detail because he thinks gawkers driving past the "Christmas Castle" might cause a car accident. It's a legitimate question. One of Luberto's neighbors said recently, "I love the lights. I just don't want anybody to get killed." Luberto is rebuffing Tobin's suggestion. He told WHDH that the......

Maureen Feeney (Dorchester) has been elected the first female Boston City Council president in 30 years. She gained more support from other councilors than incumbent and longtime president Michael Flaherty (at large) and John Tobin (JP, West Roxbury). Aside from the great news that a woman is in charge after way too long, the other news is the fallout from Flaherty's defeat. The Globe repeats that he's still aiming for the mayor's office. Joe......

Totally ready to chalk it up to yet another hare-brained scheme by Menino, we read on and found out that the Walk of Fame idea was presented by one of our favorite city councilors, John Tobin. In even more shocking news Bostonist is on the same page as Globe columnist Brian McGrory. The proposed Walk of Fame, an idea which St. Louis, Mo., Lansing, Mich., and Toronto, Canada among others have already stolen, would spice......

Bostonist, being a luddite at heart, has long been a champion of minor-league baseball: It's an affordable way to get a close-up taste of the game without all the booming sound effects, incredibly long between-inning delays for TV advertising, and capricious general managers players. But we're a little dubious about Boston City Councillor John Tobin's idea of bringing a minor-league team from the independent Can-Am League to town. As it is, there's a ton of......

For a while Bostonist had been hoping that El Oriental de Cuba in JP would be open a bit later. After downing some pints at Behan’s a walk over to El Oriental for some mashed plantains is much better than that foreman grilled cheese we end up making after bars close. Alas, they were only open on weekends until 10 p.m. Until yesterday that is, when El Oriental was firebombed overnight. Bostonist loves ethnic food......

In his 12 years of service to the people of Boston, Mayor Tom Menino has made technological advancement a cornerstone of his administration. Under his leadership Boston became the first U.S. city to completely wire every public classroom, and was one of the first to introduce free internet access in public libraries. On May 19th, Menino and City Councilor John Tobin are leading a public summit to: ...discuss how the City of Boston could use......

According to the Globe today, Boston's got itself it a coyote problem. Poor little Maggie, an 18 pound West Higland terrier was killed in her Jamaica Plain back yard. Bostonist often longs for a four-legged friend, but the thought of walking it overwhelms us, so we can't even fathom having to protect it from wild animals. According to Animal Control, coyotes are protected in the state, so we're stuck with the pesky critters. Unless......