Update: The Ted Williams tunnel has reopened. [WCVB] --The railroad bridge in Beverly, which got hit by a barge this morning, shutting down the Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line, is now fixed. So they loaded up the truck and moved to Bev-er-lee!! [Boston Globe] --BUT, even though the commuter rail is better, the Ted Williams Tunnel just got shut down by a crash. WCVB says a cement truck hit a sign. [WCVB] --While every other college......

Federal Judge Reginald C. Lindsay is sick of hearing lawsuits from victims of the Bulger gang. Yesterday, Lindsay granted a motion for summary judgment against the FBI in lawsuits filed by widows of Brian Halloran and Michael Donahue, two men killed in 1982 by James "Whitey" Bulger and accomplices. But that's not all. With at least four additional wrongful death lawsuits brought by survivors of Bulger's victims still pending, Lindsay wants the FBI to put......

STEP Fundraiser hosted by Taza Chocolate Thursday, October 25, 2007 Bloc 11 Cafe, 11 Bow Street, Union Square, Somerville 6:30 to 9 p.m., $25 suggested donation Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership can list a lot of fine reasons to extend the green line into the town that sits north of Cambridge like a jaunty sailor cap: pollution, population density, lawsuits, "revitalization". Bostonist has selfish reasons of our own, and they live in Union Square: crack-laced cream......

We thought it was weird when a former Nader advisor filed suit against Bill Belichick for Videotapegate. But Paul Flannery at the Boston Magazine blog came across what may be the weirdest lawsuit of all time. Jonathan Lee Riches is a convicted felon who likes to file lawsuits. Flannery writes that Riches filed 36 of them in September. In the Pats-related suit, according to the Smoking Gun, Richman hand-writes, "Defendants cheated in the 2005 Superbowl......

--Forbes announced that former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney placed fourth in their "creepiest candidate" poll. We can understand why – and it has nothing to do with Mormonism or big sticks. It's simply the fact that the man has not aged for several decades. Of course he's creepy – he's hiding a portrait in the attic! --Romney's new "crazy eyes" ad certainly won't help him get off the creepy list. Earlier in......

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! Chicagoist had an interview with Audrey Niffenegger, whose popular book, The Time Traveler's Wife, was based in their fine city. They also had a heated discussion about Rush Limbaugh's controversial Barack Obama parody, talked about whether Uncle Julio's Hacienda is a good place to get......

Stephen Puleo will be reading from Dark Tide: The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 on Thursday afternoon at 2:30 pm. He'll be in the English lounge of Wheatley Hall on the U-Mass-Boston campus. Forget what you know about molasses - molasses is fast, as North End residents discovered on January 15, 1919. The story isn't told as often as it should be - a tank full of 2.3 million gallons of molasses fell and burst......

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......

After one man turned up dead in Mount Hope Cemetery, the BPD reports that a 19-year-old man was found shot in Roxbury. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. More details are emerging about the dead man found above ground at the cemetery. He was in his 20s, and he was found naked. (Someone didn't want to leave evidence?) Police are thinking he was "killed elsewhere and dumped." The DSS might be in trouble in......

Is the hoody a Yoda thing or a Darth Vader thing? It all comes down to that hoody. Pats coach Bill Belichick uses it to woo women, but the hoody might also empower him to treat his players badly. Former Pats linebacker Ted Johnson has gone public with accusations that Belichick made him get back into the game when he hadn't fully recovered from a concussion. Johnson feels Belichick's decision to put him back on......

A horrible incident occurred on the commuter rail system yesterday afternoon when a train slammed into a work crew replacing railroad ties in Woburn. According to the Globe report, two workers died, and one was critically injured. The crew and the train were on a collision course: MBTA officials said investigators are trying to determine why a track switching device was improperly positioned. The switch should have directed the commuter train on a track......

Larry Summers just can't buy a break these days. It's getting to the point where the Harvard President ought to have the word "embattled" printed before his name on business cards. Having weathered the storms he created by alienating the African-American Studies department, women in science and math generally, and Native Americans, Summers has now moved on to just firing a respected administrator (a white male one, no less!) and using oodles of University money......

Halloween weekend is upon us, and though Bostonist considers the holiday one of our favorites, until yesterday we still had not come up with the ideal costume to wear to the many parties to which we’ve been invited. (We briefly considered recycling last year’s costume, but several resulting minor lawsuits and the lack of an available portable power supply have rendered this impossible.) As a result, two trips were required to scare up a disguise......

Thank goodness! Another update in Bostonist's favorite ongoing story, the neverending battle over gay marriage: The Supreme Judicial Court yesterday heard oral arguments in a challenge to a 1913 law being used by state government to deny marriage licenses to out-of-state gay couples who do not intend to move to Massachusetts. Bostonist is enjoying this subset of the gay marriage debate because it makes clear just how similar today's opposition to same-sex nuptials is to......

With all the important, ground-breaking legal news that seems to come out of our state, you might be forgiven for thinking that lawyers and judges regularly get to see unique, brand-new, revolutionary cases and legal arguments. In fact, Bostonist can assure you that the great bulk of the work that a Massachusetts lawyer does is about as entertaining as, say, an episode of Boston Legal. For that reason, dear reader, we feel we should bring......

Now here is the kind of story Bostonist loves: Tim Crebase of Methuen and his friend Barry Villcliff were digging up tree roots in Crebase's yard when the two discovered thousands of dollars in early 20th century currency and bank certificates buried in a wooden box. Sounds like a perfect feel-good story for the local news, but Bostonist knows it's only a matter of time till the lawsuits start flying.......