[ The people of Massachusetts memorialize the victims of the September 11 attacks. [Boston Globe] A baby was left on the doorstep of a 81 year-old Newton man. Nice job, Mom! [Boston Herald] A New Bedford firefighter really loves animals, but he only got to first base... [The Standard-Times] While Teddy Kennedy has been with cancer treatment, Cape Wind has been issued another permit towards the project. [Cape Cod Times] When you're in a crowded......

-- The gruesome June kidnapping that left an Allston man tied to a chair in his burning apartment and bleeding from his eyes was an attempt to steal pounds of pot from a small-time dealer, according to prosecutors. [Universal Hub] -- The marijuana that was found in the car of a Newton fire chief belonged to his grandson. [WBZTV] -- Harvard police might be racists. [WBZTV] -- A man was stabbed in the neck today......

-- A man suspected of being homeless was found stabbed to death in a small Dorchester park this morning. [Globe] -- After Friday's shooting on the Boston waterfront was linked to a reggae and hip-hop cruise, police feared escalated violence at this weekend's Caribbean Festival, which has seen bloodshed in the past. So, police rounded up the usual suspects before the event even started. 56 suspected gang members and alleged criminals were arrested in a......

Needham 4th of July parade, photo by Pappatom Fireworks lit up the skies of Greater Boston last night. From our perch on the Mass. Ave. bridge, we saw four fireworks displays, including the grandest of them all, the Boston Pops extravaganza. (The other three appeared to be in Newton, Somerville(?), and South Boston.) Contributors to the Bostonist photo pool have captured the festivities for those of you who were homebound or out-of-town. Shooting from......

NECN reports that investigators will re-create last Wednesday's green line crash (minus the crash part) in Newton this afternoon. Officials have determined that the train that crashed into another train was going nearly 30 miles per hour faster than it should have been, and have verified that traffic signals in the area were in working order. The MBTA would like to find out what happened last Wednesday in order to determine the reasons for the......

--Boston 911 operators are under scrutiny again because a call taker's error led to a delay in the arrival of police as a 76-year-old man was being beaten. [Boston Globe] --Smokers aren't too happy about the Senate's approval of a $1 rise in cigarette taxes. [Boston Herald] --Speaking of tax increases, Brookline voters approved a tax override. [Boston Globe] --In the "brass balls" department, the mayor of Newton, David Cohen, wants a pay raise.......

-- A woman and her boyfriend were arrested on charges that they abused a 7 year old Middleborough boy. David Privette, 22 of Boston, was arrested Monday after the child's school filed a third report of abuse with the Department of Social Services. Police say the boy had burns on his genitals and buttocks and that Privette put them there. He was also accused of striking the boy with a belt and urinating on him.......

Driving through an overpass? Look to the sky, and step on it! Fox 25 had a piece today on a chunk of concrete that fell from an overpass onto Route 9. You should watch the video, as the chunk of concrete was large enough to fill a construction shovel. Luckily, the chunk fell to the side of the road, but it's easy to imagine what could have happened. While our legislators are busy talking about......

Been a while since we've seen any good celebrity gossip. But Boston Daily has a little treat about Eli Roth, the director born in Massachusetts who grew up to be the king of icky torture porn and who inspired an article titled, "What's a Nice Jewish Boy from Newton Doing Making Films Like This?" Roth's brand of horror has made him a Hollywood name, but he's not big enough to sleep with Lindsay Lohan, which......

Six bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1870. You can't afford them. On March 14, Skinner, in conjunction with Lower Falls Wine Co., presents an auction of fine wines in Boston. This is only the second fine wine auction in Boston. As an effort to earn a piece of the nearly $200 million annual wine auction market, Skinner and Lower Falls Wine Co. presented the first one back in 2007. The auction offers something for everyone.......

--Two months since reopening after a five year hiatus and one million dollars of renovations, the Golden Banana strip club's future is in jeopardy after a man was shot in its parking lot last night. He was hit in the shoulder and is expected to survive. The club, however, was closed for code violations in 2003, and could face penalties from Peabody officials who were already leery about the establishment being reopened. [Boston Herald]......

-- The Bridgewater man being sought by police for the murder of his ex-wife was found dead last night, an apparent suicide. Andrew Boisvert was found hanging in an Iredell County, North Carolina rest stop. He was fleeing Friday's warrant for his arrest in the murder of Medford resident Margaret Ninos, who was found beaten to death in her home on Wednesday. A North Carolina rest stop worker discovered Boisvert's body hanging from a tree.......

Republican presidential aspirant and former Massachsuetts governor Mitt Romney is the projected winner of the state of Massachusetts over John McCain this Super Tuesday, according to CNN. And that victory was by no means a given since Romney didn't exactly leave Massachusetts wanting more. However, Romney is still fighting for states, and Mike Huckabee (plus buddy Chuck Norris) is racking up enough votes that neither one can catch up to the front-runner, John McCain. Huckabee......

--The city of Boston is lawyering up big-time for an expected suit from Shawn Drumgold, a man wrongly convicted of the 1989 murder of a 12-year-old. Drumgold spent 15 years behind bars. [Boston Globe] --An elderly woman died of cardiac arrest in an overnight house fire in Newton that also sent three residents and two firefighters to the hospital. [WCVB] --It's official. Mike Huckabee is in the Boston Marathon, and he'll run as part......

Given our current state of divisive affairs - debate about the war, the ever-intensifying drama between presidential candidates, New York versus Boston - it's somewhat nice to know that there's one thing the vast majority of the American people can agree on: we're in The Office withdrawal. It's unclear at the present how long we will remain unified as one nation missing Michael Scott, given that the Writers Guild of America and the majors are......

Listen hard enough, and you'll hear it: a slurping noise from the next table over. Loud jazz and the clanking sounds of metal soup pots can't drown it out. Order your own soup, and you'll be making those same slurping noises in no time. Some people don't think of soup as a meal unto itself. The soups at the New England Soup Factory, however, are rich and filled with diverse ingredients, making them a perfect,......

The MetroWest Daily News shed some light on the Turnpike Authority Board yesterday. The following line says it all: Turnpike Authority Board members were surprised to discover yesterday the authority is paying $100,000 a year for two advisory boards. Even though the Turnpike Authority Board claims no knowledge of these advisory boards, they are required by the state Legislature. Newton's mayor is chair of one of the boards and says that the board is an......

Good to know Bostonist isn't the only one who gets nervous driving under the Shaw's in Newton that appears to balance precariously over the Mass Pike. Oh, and through the Prudential Tunnel. And through pretty much any tunnel in this city. The Globe reports today that private businesses are responsible for maintenance of the piece of tunnel that passes under their building. The problem isn't with Shaw's or the private companies. Here's the problem:......

--A truck crashed on the Revere Beach Parkway last night. No one was hurt, but the incident shut down the parkway in both directions. According to WBZ, "State police officials said a truck went under the overpass on Route 107 North heading toward Chelsea and smashed into the top of the Route 16 bridge, bringing concrete down onto the roadway and damaging Route 16." The road has since been reopened. [WBZ, WHDH] --Two suspects......

--The Blotter usually focuses on how people get to jail, but not what happens to people when they get there. The Globe has launched a series about an outbreak of prison suicides, and the authors conclude that the suicides may be the result of "careless errors and dangerous decisions by correction officials and staff at UMass Correctional Health." Why is it important to think about what happens to criminals' mental health in prison? Because most......

Sunday's BPD Blotter described a woman who had a little too much to drink at an office Christmas party. Police found Kimberly M. Simon, 28, of Newton, sleeping at the wheel of her car, which was running. Further investigation revealed that she was plowed and that she got plowed at the office party. It got weird when police took Simon to the station: On arrival to the station, the suspect urinated on the floor of......

--A man who was shot on Friday night in Roxbury died at the hospital yesterday. Ruel Davis, 20, was shot on Walnut Avenue and Rockland Street. Davis' murderer was cold-blooded. O'Ryan Johnson reports that the shooter walked around Davis' body and kept firing until he thought the job was done: "Witnesses said the gunman coolly paced around the victim and continued shooting the man as he laid on the sidewalk outside the Walnut Avenue apartment......

--Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of Ted Kennedy and JFK, mother to Maria Shriver, and mother-in-law to Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been hospitalized at Mass General, although no one is saying why. She is 86. [Boston Globe] --Today marks the last day of Bob's Southern Bistro and the opening of some generic swanky watering hole. [WBZ] --With the departure of the infamous Mark Flomenbaum, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is disinfecting its hazardous practices by......

-- A pair of shootings remain mysteries. At 10:13 Friday, police responding to calls in Roxbury found a black male in his 20s suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. And at 2:45 this morning, police found a man shot multiple times on Torrey Street in Dorchester. Both victims are at Boston Medical Center being treated. No suspects have been arrested in either case. -- A Taunton man was found by police shot dead inside a parked......

--Auto insurers will start competing for your business. [WBZ] --If you're looking for safe, Newton is the place to be. If you're looking for action, that might be another story entirely. [WBZ] --No one's using the U-Turn ramp on the Pike. Wait, there's a U-Turn ramp on the Pike? [Boston Globe] --The governor is renewing the Interagency Council on Homelessness and Housing. [Boston Herald] --Joan Kennedy, off the wagon? [Boston Herald] --Alec Baldwin to......

Update: The disorderly conduct charge against Hillel Neuer has been dropped. Remember that guy who freaked out the employees at the Stone Hearth Pizza after a 78-year-old man was beaten to death in Needham? Turns out that he was a perfectly normal guy who just happened to be changing his clothes in the bathroom. Franci R. Ellement at the Globe writes that Hillel Neuer is a human-rights activist who is the executive director of UN......

--Mike Mennonno writes a wonderful post about the power of the Polaroid. Photo of the Day fans, take note: "It's hard to say whether the fleshiness of polaroids is an illusion of their application or inherent in the process, but Warhol's polaroids capture that same sinuous, sensuous seediness polaroids seem made for. You don't get that with digital, with its sharp focus and white light." --Newton Streets & Sidewalks had another encounter with a turkey.......

--After his picture was splashed all over the TV and Internets, the guy who allegedly stabbed two people at Park Street Station after the Red Sox Rally Monday night has been arraigned on two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury. Christopher Casey, 22, of Dorchester, was rounded up by T police last night. Bail was set at $25,000. --How about this for a reversal? You'd think law enforcement......

--Sure, people like to collect knickknacks. Salt-and-pepper shakers, Beanie Babies, comic books, parking meters. Yeah, parking meters, 123 of 'em, in fact. Thomas Gannon of Cambridge had cut the meters off poles all over Cambridge and Somerville. Police stumbled upon them when visiting Gannon for other reasons on Monday night. Master of understatement and Cambridge PD spokesman Frank Pasquarello said, "This does seem to be odd." Indeed. --Police arrested 17-year-old Derek Lodie, of Revere, for......

Two towns have joined Watertown in protest against the Anti-Defamation League, which sponsors the "No Place for Hate" anti-hate crime program. Belmont's Board of Selectmen voted on Monday to withdraw from the program. Yesterday, Newton mayor David Cohen issued a statement saying: "The recognition of the Armenian Genocide is an important step along the path of freedom and justice, and crucial in combating other genocides now and in the future." The Anti-Defamation League is so......