-- The Mashpee Wampanoag celebrated federal recognition yesterday. "We are not celebrating Thanksgiving," said Shawn Hendricks, president of the tribal council. "It's not one of the better holidays for us. Columbus Day, that's not our top holiday, either." -- The sprinkler law is full of holes. Only 22 Boston bars have installed sprinkler systems. The rest remain as flammable as before. -- Pot advocates gathered 105,000 signatures, enough to get a decriminalization initiative on......

A flight crew from DC to Boston became sick from possible carbon monoxide poisoning. The source of the problem may not have been the plane the crew was flying on. WBZ reports that "the crew was working on a different flight earlier in the day and had complained about a smell on that jet." Rampant speculation of gastrointestinal distress fired up at the thought of a funny smell. Wonkette offered a "he who smelt it,......

Dear Dane: We know that you have a lot on your plate, what with wrapping up "Bachelor No. 2," recording all these MLB commercials and keeping college kids in a frenzy. So we here at Bostonist wanted to help out. You see, the commercials you've been offering us between innings are driving us mad - as is your hair. We thought that, given the busy day you must have today, we'd help out out a......

This is Massachusetts, right? But early this morning a 2.5 earthquake hit towns west of Boston, including Littleton and Ayer. Betsy Levinson at Wicked Local spoke with Littleton police dispatch Supervisor Tim Bemis, who described residents' response to the shaking: "It sounded like a plane crash on 495, or a truck had crashed into their home." WCVB reported that this is the second earthquake in the area this month and that a 1.8 quake affected......

Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy underwent surgery this morning for a partially blocked artery in his neck. Here's the details: "As part of a routine evaluation of Senator Kennedy's back and spine, MRI studies picked up an unrelated, asymptomatic blockage in the senator's left carotid artery," said a statement from Kennedy's Washington office. "This morning, Senator Kennedy underwent preventive surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital to remove the blockage." Doctors were checking on his back because he......

The Globe put out a brief little story announcing that some lackey for the New England Patriots football team inserted the wrong DVD into the players' screening equipment on a flight to Cincinnati. That DVD was for the movie The Recruit, which happened to star--but of course!--Tom Brady's babymama Bridget Moynahan. "Someone" (the Globe didn't say who) quickly popped out the movie. We'd like to think some prankster decided to ruffle Brady's feathers a bit......

A post appeared on Universal Hub earlier today saying that Editor Michael Brodeur was out at the Weekly Dig. A Phoenix post backs that up, and Dig founder and president Jeff Lawrence sent out a press release. Here's the text of the release: Boston's Weekly Dig announced today that the editor, Michael Brodeur, is no longer with the company as part of an editorial restructuring, “Michael has been a huge part of the Dig for......

--Julie Balise of the Northeastern News spotted Alec Baldwin, shooting for Bachelor No. 2 (who isn’t?), saying nice things about toddlers and performing eternal damage control after he left a nastygram on his daughter's voicemail. Yes, Bostonist subscribes to the NU News feed for items other than its crime log, but we do love its crime log so. --Ben Affleck was in town to preview the movie he directed, Gone Baby Gone, which has been......

Earlier this season, when the Red Sox suffered a 2- or 3-game losing streak, we suggested that the mood in Red Sox Nation (a term we promise never to use again) was like the scene in Airplane! when Elaine got on the PA and asked if there was anyone on board who knew how to fly a plane. What movie scene defines Sox fans now? We've got to go with the one near the end......

The Joiner is a newcomer to Boston and a compulsive joiner of clubs and organizations. He shares his experience joining Boston area groups weekly at Bostonist. The scene at Downtown Crossing's Alley Bar the afternoon of Saturday, September 1, should have been more somber, considering New England's only gay rugby squad had lost its first match of the season by a score too embarrassing to relate. But that's not how rugby works. After the match......

--On Friday night, a teenage boy was stabbed in East Boston following a fight. Police picked up 17-year-old Jeffrey Sattery of Revere and charged him with assault. The victim's injury was non-life-threatening. --Late last night, three people sustained non-life-threatening injuries in a shooting on Dubois Street. No one was arrested. Dubois Street was also the site of another non-fatal gunshot wound back in July. --Two men died yesterday in a single-engine plane crash in Mansfield.......

Want a picture of what Red Sox Nation feels like this morning? The best way we can describe it is the scene in Airplane! when Elaine gets on the PA, tells the passengers to remain calm, then asks, "Oh, by the way, is there anyone on board who can fly a plane?" The next scene is in the cabin with passengers going berzerk and men swordfighting in the aisle. That's what being a Red Sox......

--Some alleged bonehead from North Carolina got arrested after he tried to take a loaded gun on a plane at Logan. The lawyer for John C. Megelich says the guy didn't realize he had it in his bag. We don't know how you wouldn't notice a loaded gun. The DA's Office released some more details. Megelich, who was flying from Boston to Detroit, dared to put the gun through security in his briefcase, and security......

If you believe the worst of the rumors, the members of the Police spend most of their downtime on the tour bus smashing bottles and going after one another with the jagged glass. But whatever happens offstage, it doesn't seem to affect the show. The Police reunion tour hit Fenway Park Saturday for the first of two nights, and they've hardly lost a step. The best part of a reunion that nobody thought would ever......

Correction: We had an image of James Albrecht, which we put in our standard top left (or right) corner for the Blotter. We've replaced it with crime-scene tape. As a commenter pointed out, the image and the headline have nothing to do with each other, and the positioning might cause someone to mix up the stories, so we replaced it. Apologies for any confusion. --The hunt is on for a man who raped a 67-year-old......

--Since we got accused of having dirty minds with yesterday's post about the "penis for lunch" sign in Dedham, we wondered what you would think of a post about "illegal dumping." No, it's not that kind of dumping. Geez! We're not that bad. Two men were caught dumping "carpeting, trash, and metal debris" in East Boston. The mayor announced that the city put surveillance cameras near the Chelsea Creek when it got too messy. If......

--Why can't we just have a light day with the Bonbon Bandit instead of the carnage that has filled the Blotter as of late? Last night, a 9-year-old got shot in a house in Mattapan. Two teenagers were found shot outside. A party was going on at the time, which raises the question of what a 9-year-old was doing at the party and the even more important question of what guns were doing at the......

-- The Boston Police Department's news brief headline summed this one up perfectly with "With Friends Like These...Who Needs Enemies": East Boston guy goes out with his friend on Monday afternoon. Friend goes back to guy's house, breaks through the window and steals some of the guy's toys (iPod, digital camera, PlayStation). When guy confronts friend about the theft, friend smashes guy's digital camera right in front of him. Bostonist says guy needs new friends.......

Things got crazy at Logan Airport this morning when the landing gear on an American Eagle flight from Toronto malfunctioned. The plane eventually landed safely, but the AP reports, "Ground crews saw sparks fly from the landing gear during the plane’s first attempt to touch down." WBZ quotes a Massport spokesman, who said that "air traffic controllers viewed the plane during two flybys and did not see any visible problems with the gear." On the......

--Bob Hayden - a retired Boston police officer, former Lawrence police chief, and grandpa - had to deal with some schmucks on his plane from Minnesota to Massachusetts on Saturday night. A man started to fake some sort of fit after takeoff. Flight attendants got him back into his seat, where he started yelling. Then another guy - who turned out to be the screamer's brother - joined in with a fit. Hayden, the flight......

--More details have emerged about the Mattapan man who was stabbed to death yesterday. Sylvester Mitchell was 38 years old and may have been stabbed as part of a domestic dispute because his wife was questioned by police. He was murdered on his birthday. --Overnight, another stabbing happened, this time in Dorchester, and the victim is in stable condition. Less lucky is a pedestrian who was hit in Brighton at Cambridge and Harvard Avenues. The......

-- Who would have thought the Red Sox would be happy to leave Fenway? And after a series with Toronto, no less? The orange of Camden Yards will seem heavenly after a groaner of a loss at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. The Jays knocked around the Sox, 10-3, in front of the largest crowd at Fenway since World War II. Ouch. As the Globe's Nick Cardafo summed up post-game, it was awful. True, the......

-- One down! After the five-game pounding that the Red Sox took from the Yankees at Fenway last August, Friday's matchup was more than just a game. It was more than just the first rivalry game of the season. It was about avenging the embarrassment that continued to smart for Sox fans over the winter and into the early season. The game itself was a battle of the best kind: one in which we came......

Friday will mark the start of the third weekend the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square will serve you a beer and let you take it with you to your seat. The Boston area has been an outcast for a while without a movie house serving beers - the Somerville Theatre has ended our thirst. They may have gotten the idea when Snakes on a Plane hit the theaters, knowing the bureaucracy it probably took until......

It's tough to not envy our Austin peers these days, as the sonic ear candy that is South by Southwest looms in mid-March. Without the ability to hop on a plane and hightail it to Texas, many have been left to look at initial lineup announcements and imagine wandering Sixth Street with happy grins on their faces. A new tool on the official festival site could add to the bitterness, but it can also......

The BPD rounded up 21 perps for smuggling pot and Ecstasy in "Operation Polar Express." Actually, judging from how bags of Ecstasy looked in this picture available at the Globe, the law should have called it "Operation Popcorn." This drug bust involved Vietnamese drug rings tied to Canada. These people were busy bees: "Investigators seized 85,000 ecstasy pills, worth nearly $2.6 million on the street, 130 pounds of marijuana, five guns, and $25,000." The BPD......

We don't know about you, but it's been friggin warm out there. Well, not for some of you. It seems as though places that are supposed to be cold are warm and places that are supposed to be warm are cold. Or maybe that's just us. Either way, it's just confusing. Austinist said goodbye to their co-editor (sell-out) and played rumor monger on the SXSW lineup. And when dozens of dead birds littered downtown......

Rachael Ray will be at the Barnes & Noble at Prudential Center for a book signing at noon tomorrow - Wednesday, December 20. Then she'll be at the Sur La Table in the Mall at Chestnut Hill on the same day from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. A Globe article named "Hatred of Rachael Ray Can Be a Powerful Uniting Force" became one of the most popular articles on globe.com (not as popular as "Flatulence......

Boston.com is reporting that Dise-K is on a plane with Red Sox brass John Henry and Theo Epstein heading to Boston, for what most believe would be his physical. A source close to the negotiations is reporting that “You can assume that a deal is done or close."......

Let's look back at a week in which no site in the -ist network adopted anyone from Africa... -Austinist reveled in the dumb antics of some U.T. law students and posted some great audio from former New Orleans natives who've decided to stay in Austin. But the best news for Austinist? They were voted Best Local Entertainment Web Site by the local Austin alt-weekly. Congrats, Austinist. -DCist gloried in being told their musical tastes made......