Machetes have popped up on the Blotter often, and two questions always pop up: a) How does one get a machete? and b) How does one tote around these large knives without getting caught? One item on the BPD Blotter was about a man who was just walking around with his machete dangling from his belt. The Herald decided to investigate. The cover of yesterday's paper is a terrifying number with a thuggy-looking tattoed......

--The BPD has put out a missing person alert for 73-year-old Maureen Talbot of Roxbury. Talbot is showing "early signs of dementia." [BPD News] --A follow-up to the scary machete attack near City Hall. BPD police commissioner Ed Davis says the alleged machete-wielding perps "are wannabes who call themselves MS-13 but are not connected to the bloodthirsty enterprise that has been the subject of an FBI probe." No response yet from MS-13's PR team on......

--A man was attacked near City Hall by two suspects dressed in black and wielding a machete. Yes, a machete. At four in the afternoon. Police grabbed the two alleged perpetrators, and investigators at the scene reportedly said that this could have been the work of the infamous gang MS-13. [Boston Herald] --A Lawrence teacher who took a first-grader by the collar and swung him into a door was found not guilty of "intentional......

--In Suffolk Superior Court today, Masha Badinter testified against Eliezer Falcon, who allegedly set her on fire after she was bullied at a 2005 party in Allston. The case is baffling and gruesome. According to a release from the DA's Office, Badinter had "second- and third-degree burns from the base of her spine to the nape of her neck," and Falcon may have threatened her to keep her from talking to police. The Herald adds......