So many big court cases went down this week, so we're wrapping up the latest. --The first witness testified Tuesday in the Franklin Park Zoo Amok Ape Trial, which will determine the amount that will be awarded to a 2-year-old girl was attacked by an ape in 2003. The girl's mother, Terrasita Duarte-Scott, is suing Zoo New England because her daughter was injured and probably has a flood of nightmares thanks to the episode. Courtney......

Early yesterday morning, the BPD was summoned to the Mansion Night Club for a disturbance. Two men from Billerica were involved in a brawl, and one of the men must have decided he really wanted to go to jail because he took a bite out of an officer's thigh. There's no indication on the BPD blog of how large the bite was or whether or not the officer had to go to the hospital for......

The Chiara Levin case has unleashed an outcry against the gun violence. People are fed up. Reverend Bruce Wall says he will post signs around the city warning tourists that they are not safe in Boston if the mayor doesn't act now and declare a state of emergency. Maybe that will get the mayor to stop talking about after-hours house parties and start talking about gangs and guns. The Herald quotes what Wall plans to......

After this weekend's roundup of 22 teenagers at a ragin' house party, police officers appear to be sensitive to kids being kids. (We wish they would be more sensitive to kids stabbing each other, but we digress.) The latest teen-party-related arrest earns serious points for creativity. Two underage drinkers set up a plan to steal beer from refrigerators in open garages. The Walpole Daily News Transcript writes, "Police think two local teenagers allegedly caught stealing......

On the near eve of the Hip-Hop Empowerment Summit (coming to town Saturday), Berklee has partnered with Essence magazine to promote kinder, gentler lyrics in rap music. Today we saw the Boston Globe touting the partnership between Berklee and Essence’s Take Back the Music campaign. At face value the partnership and consequential contest seems like a great idea; take some of the violence and derogatory imagery of women out of rap. Ever since we got......

Oh, the irony. On New Year's Day, the Globe reported on the Boston area's high rate of millionaires (one in every 20 households, apparently) and on January 2, the mayor crowed in his inaugural address about the city's bright economic future and then suggested the answer to stopping violent crime is for pesky bystanders to stop being such chickens and start testifying. Right, because the root cause of high crime is, um, a lack......

Stop Snitchin’ shirts have reportedly been pulled off the shelves in a number of local stores. Boston Police, with their shiny new blog, apprehended 77 persons on outstanding warrants over the weekend. Crime statistics still say that Boston has hit a ten year high for violent crime, as measured by the murder rate. Bostonist often touts the merits of the libertarian values. Be that as it may we still wonder how 77 people were walking......

In the wake of recent shootings, Mayor Menino called a meeting of top public safety folks to figure out what could be done (short of spending more money, of course). Despite numerous suggestions and resulting proposals, the Herald homed in on Menino's absurd plan to confiscate "Stop Snitchin'" t-shirts from stores. While Bostonist would like to take the Globe's more measured approach and talk about everything that came out of the meeting, we know our......

Baltimore's "Stop Snitchin!" franchise has been making waves here in the Bay State. In the Herald's editorials today is a story about the shirts being sold in New Bedford and worn to a highly-publicized murder trial in Boston last year. The Herald also reports about a mysterious business card dropper advertising contract hits on "filthy rats." The editorial supports tougher penalties for witness intimidation. Apparently, the motivation behind "Stop Snitchin" is to dissuade people......