Ex-Herald crime writer Michele McPhee hasn't completely abandoned print journalism for the joys of radio--which include sharing the booth with media maven Mayor Menino. She has a lengthy (4000+ words) and well-sourced piece in the newest issue of Boston Magazine that brings perspective and insight to the much-chronicled troubles of the Boston Police Department. The force's legitimacy has been crippled by a string of recent scandals, some of which McPhee recounts. But she's also......

Charismatic media personality Tom Menino is now doing stints on Michele McPhee's radio show on WTKK-FM (96.9.) Perhaps the mayor is looking for ways to supplement his meager income? The Herald originally reported that Menino would be going on the air once a week, but Boston Daily talked to McPhee and clarified that he'll actually be on once a month. McPhee told them, “We go way back, so this show will be an extension......

--An armed Lynn man was in a standoff with police for seven-and-a-half hours before he was shot and killed this morning. WBZ quotes District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett as saying, "Shots were fired -- again, after attempts to use many non-lethal techniques -- the man was pronounced dead at Lynn Union Hospital at approximately 5:30." [WBZ] --Two men were arrested in Natick for assault and battery on each other after fighting in a Sovereign Bank......

--St. Patrick's Day, of course! Platinum Elite has wonderful photos and commentary from the parade. We were particularly enamored of the Elvis sighting. [Platinum Elite] --Other kudos to Pax Arcana's fond memories of the holiday. Bring the Pepto to the Purple Shamrock, folks! [Pax Arcana] --While it's cool that governor Deval Patrick is heading over to New York state to attend the swearing-in of the state's new governor, David Paterson, we're not quite sure......

--While the episode of a BPD officer holding up a Roslindale gas station is still fresh in our memory, two BPD officers are accused of breaking the law. One narcotics detective tested positive for steroids, and a domestic violence detective was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend. Did these two not get the memo? Don't become the bad guys. [Boston Globe] --Bostonist saw that Che Sosa, the man who stabbed his own attorney while on trial......

--Ooh. Somebody heard Whitey Bulger's voice. Please tell us--who has set the time limit for how long the press can go without a Whitey Bulger story? [Boston Herald] --A busted air-traffic-control radar delayed planes at Logan last night. Tell Johnny to put the plug back in the wall. [Boston Globe] --Let's get this out of the way right now: Heath Ledger has nothing to do with Boston. But Michele McPhee, the Herald's former queen......

--Yet another explanation for why you should have a sinking feeling in your tummy any time you go over a bridge in Massachusetts. [Boston Herald] --Another storm is expected for Friday, but it's not prompting the mass freakout that the last storm did. [WBZ] --The city of Boston will build a statue that honors Martin Luther King, Jr., and his wife, Coretta Scott King. [AP/Boston Globe] --The Committee on Children, Families, and Individuals With......

But before they went back up, whoever writes the blotter wasn't getting a little sick of having to do so many test posts. Commenter Middleman gave us a heads up that something was brewing over at BPDNews.com. Somebody on the BPD end is getting frustrated: "TEST BY IRATE ACCOUNT MANAGER." Middleman responds, "HILARIOUSNESS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA." --Good news. The Green Line Groper has been arrested. The Herald reports that the 60-year-old suspect......

Michele McPhee, Boston's queen bee of crime reporting, is jumping from the Herald to a full-time slot at WTKK. Boston Daily landed the scoop confirming what two of Boston's most reliable mediawatchers, Dan Kennedy of Media Nation and Adam Reilly of the Phoenix, heard. From Joe Keohane at Boston Daily: "Sources close to McPhee confirm this, and add that she’s taken a full-time gig at WTKK-FM and ditched daily journalism altogether." What will the Herald......

--John Edwards, the Harvard sophomore whose body was found yesterday at Harvard Medical School, committed suicide. People who knew him, such as a professor and his roommate are mystified. Eva Wolchover lists Edwards' many accomplishments. He was a top science student (and that's saying something around here), a stem cell researcher, and a guitar player. A Facebook group named "In Memory of John Edwards" has already been established. --Michele McPhee reports that a State Trooper......

--Police are warning the public after the discovery of bad drugs on Cape Cod. Two people died yesterday in Falmouth after taking heroin that might be cut with something even worse than the heroin itself. --The mother of Shawn Dow, the college student who died during a party in Allston over the weekend, is saying she doesn't think he died from falling from the top of a building. She believes he died as a result......

--Corinne Stephen was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the brutal death of Dontel Jeffers, a four-year-old who died in her foster care in 2005. [Boston Herald, Boston Globe] --Massachusetts environmentalists are upset because they think the Legislature's new energy bill will breed wind farms. Folks, if you want to free yourselves from oil, you are going to have to suck it up at some point and try out the turbines somewhere. [Boston Globe] --Follow-Up: Herald......

Michele McPhee, police beat reporter for the Herald, has been hiding a few secrets. For all of her tough talk about crime on the streets, she has a passion for fashion. Unfortunately, she has a strange way of letting that passion show. Word is out on the Web that McPhee has a theory for why fashion designers like skinny models. She said on her WTKK show, "And who do homosexual men like? Little boys." McPhee......

Governor Deval Patrick has expressed hopes of replacing police officers on construction sites with flagmen. Police details are one of the oldest--and most controversial--local traditions, and Patrick won't have an easy time getting this done. The detail is great for police officers in that they can make more cash, but it hits taxpayers hard. As Casey Ross at the Herald points out, "We are the only state that does not use flagmen." There will always......

--A man and his mother were shot while riding in a car yesterday in Dorchester. The Globe reports that Darnell Ricks Jr., 20, was hit in the arm, and his mother "appeared to have been grazed in the face by a bullet." Police have a detailed description of the alleged perps: "They were looking for three black males who appeared to be in their late teens and about 5 feet 8 inches tall. One wore......

--An 18-year-old screamed racist comments at BPD officers working Tuesday's Red Sox Rally. And then he tried to get out of it by saying he was a cousin of a State Representative. The BPD wasn't impressed. According to Michele McPhee, Peter Kouroujian was busted for drinking underage when he took out his anger on police: As police tried to remove Kouroujian, he allegedly screeched, “Hey, you (expletive). Why don’t you do some real police......

--The man shot yesterday on Harvard Street in Dorchester was leaving a funeral when he was hit. The man, 17, is in critical condition. According to the Globe, the funeral was for Charles Bunch, who died on October 14, possibly as a result of gang activity. Michele McPhee's sources ID'd the victim as David Johnson. She also noted that Johnson and the person who shot him were both wearing memorial buttons for Charles Bunch. --On......

On the same day that the Herald runs a story about a real problem involving rising violence in the school system, readers also get to hear more griping about a fake problem – ice-cream men who are too noisy. Michele McPhee quotes one woman as saying, "You talk about road rage. I have ice cream truck rage.” She then added, “You think it’s a silly thing, loud ice cream truck music, until you live it."......

The feud between DA Dan Conley and BPD chief Ed Davis continues, at least according to the Herald. The fact that Davis wasn't around when Conley announced on Wednesday that he would arrest Angela Vasquez, who is accused of murdering her own children, set off Michele McPhee's alarm bells. McPhee talked to Mayor Menino and councilor Stephen Murphy, who said, "This is petty politics at its worst to have the DA not communicate an arrest......

--After a lengthy undercover operation called "Operation Roadkill," the feds took down 15 alleged members of the Outlaws, a biker gang based in Taunton. In the raid, they picked up large quantities of drugs and, as Boston NOW gleefully noted, a stripper pole. We're not sure how the feds took the stripper pole from the house without leaving significant damage behind, but, by golly, the feds were going to take that stripper pole as evidence!......

Early reports said that 8-year-old Liquarry Jefferson* was shot and killed by a group of armed men who burst into his family's home. The police smelled something fishy, and the truth came out. Liquarry was shot by his 7-year-old cousin. Apparently the family tried to protect the boy. Perhaps they didn't know that the cousin is too young to be charged for the crime. He and his mother are now talking to police. There's no......

The fatal stabbing possibly caused by a spilled beer is catching a lot of attention, and the Herald's Michele McPhee reported yesterday that Commish Ed Davis wants to close down the South Boston bar where it took place. The Herald explains that The 6 House used to be Triple O's, where Whitey Bulger – gasp! - nested. Also, City Councilor Bill Linehan's son sustained injuries from a stabbing near The 6 House the night......

The creep who set a cat aflame and pitched it into the first floor of an East Boston home has made national news. Neighbors are outraged and rattled at the fate of the unfortunate kitty cat. What kind of moron would set a cat on fire? People are easier on you if you set a human being on fire because at least another human being can fight back. This cat didn't have a chance. Plus,......

Update: We hear that, at today's city council meeting, LaMattina said to his fellow councilors, "I apologize for some of the heat we took on this ordinance." We also hear that Sam Yoon feels "shivers up his spine" when he hears the familiar ice-cream tinkle. (Is that a good or a bad thing?) The discussion about the ice-cream-truck music has been moved to the city and neighborhood services committee. Ice-Cream truck drivers might have......

Okay. You're gonna need a map for this one. Those who were already ambivalent toward or completely against the Guardian Angels have more reason to be skeptical of the group. Apparently the Angels' screening process could use an overhaul because a registered sex offender is among their ranks. However, we aren't quite sure what's going on because the Globe and the Herald are have different takes on the story. Here's the real story: The Guardian......

In the grand American tradition of public humiliation which Nathaniel Hawthorne so lovingly depicted in The Scarlet Letter, Boston residents will soon get "Hester Prynned" – not because they've been fooling around but because they aren't paying their trash bills. The city is going to list the names and addresses of those who don't pay their trash bills on the city website. That smells like a privacy violation, but nasty garbage piling up smells pretty......

This update from Michele McPhee of the Boston Herald merits a Boston Blotter entry all its own. Remember that guy running a prostitution ring from his own apartment? McPhee describes everything the police found when they raided the joint: What the cops found inside this “disorderly house” was explicit, according to the BPD report. Alongside the various lubricants, the swinging harness, and cash in a locked box was a stash of sex toys too explicit......