The public may not be quite as freaked out by West Nile Virus as it once was, but the disease is definitely still around. WNV was detected in mosquitoes in Worcester on June 27, marking the first time the virus has been found here in 2008. There were six cases of West Nile Virus in humans in Massachusetts in 2007. People over 50 are more likely to be seriously affected by the disease, which is......

The Herald's front page gives a starring role to Mayor Menino's opposition to new state regulations allowing for in-store medical clinics at CVS locations (a change Bostonist outlined yesterday.) The Herald piece quotes a letter from Menino opining, "Allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong." Right or wrong, CVS has been making money off of sick people for as long as it's been functioning as a pharmacy. But despite the state......

After Brookline banned trans fats, it was only a matter of time before the city of Boston followed suit. The Boston Public Health Commission has approved the ban. The Globe reports that the vote was unanimous. The Globe reporters tried to find some restaurant owners freaking out about the ban, but they were met with a "collective shrug." If you don't want your donuts and your French fries to change, you'll get your say at......

There are lot of things to dislike about the waiting room at your doctor's office—germy fellow patients, antiquated reading material, a complete lack of shampoo and energy drinks for sale. CVS will be able to rectify at least the last issue after regulations approved yesterday by the state's Public Health Council will allow the corporation to place small medical centers within its stores. The regulations will also open the door to companies like Wal-Mart who......

One Boston hotel broke out the big guns and bought a bedbug-sniffing dog, the Globe reported on Thursday. The Jurys Boston Hotel frightens the bedbugs with a bark and a bite. Ditto the Omni Parker House. Whenever the dog barks, the hotel goes scorched-earth on the bedbugs' collective ass, fumigates, and burns the mattresses. The Boston Public Health Commission has some suggestions if you're prole like most of us and can't afford a bedbug-sniffing dog:......

The Boston Public Health Commission placed a billboard featuring a giant pair of hands unwrapping a giant condom in an awkward spot – across the street from a Catholic School in Dorchester. Somehow, it never occurred to the people locating the billboards that the officials of the Saint Kevin School might get a tad upset. No one asked the kids what they thought – they are probably getting quite a kick out of it, and......

Watch out when you're shopping for toothpaste, folks! The state Department of Public Health said today that potentially tainted toothpaste, like that included in a FDA warning last month, has started to pop up in many a Massachusetts town or city. Among the municipalities specifically mentioned: Amherst, Arlington, Boston, Dedham, Lawrence, Lowell, Marlden, Somerville, Strubridge, Wellesley, and West Springfield. What's the issue? Toothpast from China and counterfeit Colgate toothpaste might have in it diethylene gycol......

We're playing a little game we call "what's Tommy's name not on?" The Zamboni that smoothes the ice at the Frog Pond? It's on there. The welcome sign to Boston? It's on there. The toothbrushes the Boston Public Health Commission distributes? It's on there (and happens to be absurdly huge.) The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center? Yeah, that's it. Menino's name does not adorn the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center is not yet called......

This afternoon, before the sloppy snow began to fall, a 22 year old man was struck by a Taxi on Huntington Ave near Forsyth St. The taxi clipped the rear wheel of the cyclist and sent him under the rear wheels of a nearby dump truck carrying a full load of scrap concrete. Northeastern News reports that police recovered a fixed-gear bike (with mangled front wheel), a cell phone, a right shoe, a messenger bag,......

The Globe reported today that Deval Patrick was reversing an order by former Governor Mitt Romey and would allow 26 couples to have their marriages to be recorded in Massachusetts. A 1913 law which stated that those couples whose marriage was specifically outlawed in their state of residence could not marry in Massachusetts was used by the Romney administration – and withheld by a State Supreme Court decision – precluded the couples marriages from being......

The Boston Globe reports today that the City is cutting back the proposed regulations on biolabs in the Hub. Lobbying from academic research institutions and for-profit drug companies who conduct research in the City have resulted in loosening of the standards proposed by the Boston Public Health Commission. The initial regulations would have required a permit for research on any potentially infectious organisms. Given the permitting process the public would be able to contest a......

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday that a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is not unconstitutional. The Globe described this as "a major victory" for bigots opponents of same-sex marriage, but honestly, any other outcome would have been something of a shock. The case turned on a provision of the state constitution that prevents amendments designed to reverse an earlier judicial decision. The argument against the current proposed amendment was that, since it......

Today we flipped on the radio for a bit of a dose of news. First thing we hear is about breastfeeding. The issue of the day was the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's approval of the "gift basket" with infant formula distributed to mothers in state maternity wards. Pro-breastfeeding groups had pushed for a ban on the distribution of free infant formula – before the Govnah stepped in and according to the Boston Globe "......

The Boston Public Health Commission has docked their bikes in the garage for the winter. They’re not hitting local parking lots with bike rodeos and their summertime slogan of “Use Your Head, Wear a Helmet.” The wintry mix falling throughout the day reminded Bostonist that even big-kids like us can have a little trouble walking down those brick laden sidewalks. The BPHC Child Injury prevention team will visiting classrooms across the city delivering tips for......

Bostonist’s inner child is hoping for a snow day and some serious sledding time tomorrow. Alas, snow brings more to Boston than a white blanket and chilly fun. Yesterday the first measurable snow in the area had local news updates warning Boston of the slippery, treacherous roads out there. It seems that every year Boston drivers have to remember how to drive in the snow and ice. A rash of fender benders breaks out after......

This afternoon Al Franken rocked Air America’s AM airwaves* from right here in the Hub. As part of a nation-wide book tour Franken made his appearance in Boston and coupled it with a broadcast of his three hour program from the Wilbur in the Theatre District. Harvard alum Franken pulled on the alumni network to fill his show's time slot. Robert Putnam from the Kennedy School of Government, Laurence Tribe from Harvard Law School,......

You may recall Bostonist wondering, not long ago, who was responsible for the fliers around town warning us about a social worker named Mary Mitchell-Nixon ("abuser of people with AIDS," the fliers said). Well, alert Bostonist reader Dan Roche brought to our attention the recent appearance of new, more detailed fliers, explaining more about the nature of one man's serious grudge. (The text and a picture of the new fliers are reproduced after the jump,......

Last night PBS premiered “RX for Survival - A Global Health Challenge,” a three-part, six-hour series on worldwide public health. Focusing on innovations in the last century, including vaccines and antibiotics, the series highlights efforts to eradicate disease around the world and comes at a timely moment: The Massachusetts State Legislature is debating a bill that would change healthcare coverage in the state and the White House just yesterday, released a plan to address the......

Even if (as is our dream) Bostonist were the scriptwriter for an absurdist political sit-com, we could not have come close to crafting the amusing scene that unfolded around Mitt Romney as he actually rode the T yesterday to prove to all of us that orange-plus ain't that bad. First, he couldn't say how much a subway ride costs. Then he was harangued by a man (unnamed and homeless, according to the Globe) about his......

When you think of liberal marijuana culture in the United States, what comes to mind? San Francisco and the rest of Northern California, undoubtedly. Maybe Seattle, Portland (Oregon), or in our region, hippy Vermont. But no. You may be surprised to learn that, according to a new study, our fine city (metro area, actually) has the highest rate of youth and adult marijuana use in the country. While nationally 5 percent of people smoke pot,......

Bostonist bets that some restaurant and bar owners, who complained about the state-wide smoking ban last year, are feeling a bit sheepish today. A Boston Globe article focuses on a Harvard School of Public Health study released today; according to the results of the study, the ban on smoking that took effect on July 5, 2004 for all Massachusetts restaurants and bars, has not hurt business, but it actually grew a little bit (9 percent......