--Mayor Menino hops on a bike in honor of Bike Week. [Boston Globe] --Local residents with family in China react to the news of the recent earthquake. [Boston Herald] --House Speaker Sal Di Masi is mad as hell at the suggestion that his ethics are a little shady, and he's not taking it anymore. [Boston Globe] --Two recipients of kidneys from a homeless man infected with LMCV, a rodent virus, have died. [Boston Globe] --Parts......

Yesterday, City Council President Maureen Feeney's civic summit brought about 400 people together to get people more involved in city government. Mayor Menino even showed up, although Michael Pahre noted, "Mayor Thomas Menino breezed in -- and out -- of the convention center probably feeling a little bit unwelcome" since it wasn't his idea. Adam Gaffin at Universal Hub live-blogged the event and summed up the takeaways, with education and crime high on the list......

The Milky Way, Jamaica Plain's popular candlepin bowling bar and hangout, will close no later than next year, according to the Jamaica Plain Gazette. Bella Luna, its companion restaurant, will move to the Brewery Complex on Amory Street. The decision comes months after the Milky Way's co-owners spent $80,000 to install a sprinkler system to bring the nightclub up to Boston city code. The decision was motivated by a new lease and an enormous rent......

A survey revealed that 72 percent of Bostonians are largely happy with the way mayor Tom Menino has been running things. In fact, the Globe headline declared the city was "smitten," which is not a word Bostonist would use to describe how the city's residents view the mayor. Then again, he appears to be quite a hit with the ladies. Compared to what mayors in other cities get embroiled in (shoutout to SFist!), Mayor Menino......

Boston may be the Athens of America and the most collegiate of American cities, but our mayor doesn't get by on professorial aloofness. Tom Menino is an old school, roll up the sleeves politician. That being the case, the Globe has some fun (your eyes do not deceive you: fun at the Globe) with the news that he's one of many who have been nominated to be the next chancellor of the University of......

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......

If you want to get teenagers to stop doing something, the best plan of action is to tell them it's destructive and then prohibit them from doing it. That's only backfired... just about every time it's ever been tried. The recent test case involves Mayor Thomas Menino, who is attempting to make violent video games even more popular and desirable amongst kids by prohibiting their sale to minors. Violent crime is something that Boston......

Whether or not you think pot is a big deal, the fact that a Boston Firefighter was arrested for buying pot today doesn't bode well for the fire department's resistance to the mayor's desire to start random drug testing. Anthony Gaston is accused of, according to the Herald, "smoking a joint inside a department car." Making things weirder, he wasn't even scheduled to be at work. He was also allegedly carrying prescription pain killers. Other......

-- Police arrested the Dorchester man responsible for the February 27th lunch brawl at West Roxbury High School. Edwin Reyes, 39, surrendered to police yesterday. Police say that Reyes led a posse of four adults, including his two brothers and an unidentified woman, to assault a West Roxbury student who had allegedly beat up Reyes's son. Reyes stands accused of punching a West Roxbury student and driving his car into a school police officer while......

--With this winter's especially foul weather, we have entered a new level of pothole hell. [Boston Globe] --Although some local figures might be gearing up to run against Mayor Menino, the mayor might be earning votes by working to help Hendry Street residents floored by the mortgage foreclosure crisis. [Boston Herald] --Despite all that planning, construction on the new Harvard Allston Science Complex has already pissed off Allston residents. Neighbors had been told construction......

The mayors of Boston and New York City, Mayors Menino and Bloomberg, are engaging in the standard "friendly wager" based on the outcome of the Super Bowl. If you compare the two lists, it's pretty clear which city has the better food options, and we're not talking about the Big Apple here: --100 cups of New England Clam Chowder from Legal Sea Foods; --42 pounds of coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts in honor of Super......

You heard that right--"on our lawn" as opposed to "off our lawn." We're serious! Turns out that Boston--Boston, home of constant tension between college students and permanent residents--is one of the best 100 communities in the United States for children and young people. America's Promise Alliance spotlights the "best places for young people to live and grow up." Mayor Menino is already touting the development in a press release. Some of the city's programs that......

--A massive fire that started in an abandoned nightclub and eventually destroyed 14 buildings in downtown Lawrence broke into the national news. In a miracle given the size of the fire, no one was hurt. However, 30 families were displaced. Authorities think the fire is suspicious. The owner, who was in the process of turning the spot into a restaurant, says he has no insurance and that someone "jealous of his success" started it.......

Last year, at his annual State of the City address, Mayor Thomas Menino sought to prove the thesis of the recently released Nas album entitled "Hip Hop is Dead" by declaring that the rap community had given him the name "T-Mizzy." He might need some credibility and political capital with minority Bostonians after unveiling at last night's speech that he wants to save on school transportation costs by dismantling part of the city's busing......

Mayor Thomas Menino will deliver his State of the City address tonight at the Strand Theater in Dorchester. However, the spotlight won't be solely on him--the Firefighters' Union has declared they will protest the event. Firefighters have been working without a contract, and they are arguing with the mayor over whether or not to have random drug and alcohol testing. The dispute arose after two firefighters died in the Tai Ho restaurant fire, and toxicology......

Political junkies have divided the last few months between obsessing over Iowa and New Hampshire and complaining about how much energy is wasted obsessing over Iowa and New Hampshire. Those states, the argument goes, are too white and too small and too rural to represent the country at large. But, while true, it always seems dismissive and elitist (possibly because we're writing this on a iPhone while stopped at a light in a Prius Zipcar.)......

--At least Mother Nature was kind enough to warn us of the impending weather torture with thunder. The Globe kindly reminds you not to drive like a dumbass. [Boston Globe] --Another milemarker in the ongoing battle between the mayor and the Firefighters Union: The union is considering picketing Menino's State of the City speech. [Boston Globe] --Potholes here, potholes there, potholes everywhere! [Boston Herald] --In Freetown, a trucker was killed when a pile of......

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......

City Councilor President Maureen Feeney ("MoFee") has suggested hosting a gigantic town meeting at the South Boston Convention Center in the spring, the Globe reports. The mayor is not feeling the idea because of the teeming hordes that are likely to descend up on the convention center to speak their minds and he has to listen to kvetching all the time, anyway. But the mere presence of teeming hordes is the point. All too......

The Mayor's Office announced today that there are more homeless families in Boston. Mayor Thomas Menino and company held their annual Homeless Census and got the bad news. The number of homeless families shot up by 22%, from 2,535 to 3,084 this year.* This rise is alarming. The press office notes, "The number for families is higher for the third year in a row, meaning that children continue to be our fastest growing homeless population."......

The space-saver war continues. Yesterday, Donovan Slack followed up on the city's attempts to get a few residents of South Boston to stop saving parking spaces after a snowstorm, even though they can keep the space for 48 hours. Apparently a few protesters feel that tradition trumps the law: But sending a special crew to South Boston angered some in the neighborhood. They interpreted the move as another offensive in the years-long battle between City......

--Just because you're a Harvard student doesn't mean you're smart. The Crimson reports that a junior was arrested for "hitting and kicking a police officer and breaking the window of a patrol car." What could have irritated him so much? His friends said that he was "intoxicated at the time." That's an understatement. --Anarchist wannabes have been torching a few American flags in Western Mass, police say. On Friday night, a large flag hanging in......

Mayor Thomas Menino probably won't be happy with today's Boston Herald. The lead story paints a picture of Menino as a master player of the blame game. The article seems to be the result of Menino's rage after the snowstorm mess. Jessica Van Sack writes that people noticed Menino didn't step up and admit that any of those problems were his fault. It's old-school "you smelt it, you dealt it" politics. The piece suggests that......

Just when we got our hopes up that Mayor Thomas Menino had forgotten about his plans to move City Hall to South Boston, he declared yesterday that the move is still very much on his mind. Jay Fitzgerald reported that Menino spoke at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast yesterday, and he said that he'd like to sell the current City Hall space at Government Center and then use the money to move.......

--Handheld red laser beams can be a lot of fun, but a guy from Medford with a laser beam caused a ruckus on Saturday night when he pointed his beam at a State Police helicopter. The State Police swiftly summoned themselves, the Coast Guard, the Medford Police Department, and the Somerville Police Department to find the person. The feds are investigating. --The man who is accused of being the "Green Line Groper" has pled not......

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said he's on Brockton's side when it comes to where the World Boxing Council should put a statue of Rocky Marciano--and it worked. The World Boxing Council (WBC) announced that it will erect a statue of Marciano in Marciano's hometown of Brockton after initially announcing it would be in Boston--much to Brockton's chagrin. The Globe reported that Mayor Menino and Brockton mayor James E. Harrington got in touch with WBC president......

Boston Public Library president Bernard A. Margolis officially lost his job yesterday. It was a move Margolis had seen coming since last May, when Judith Kurland, Thomas Menino's chief of staff told him that his contract would not be renewed beyond its current term. Freed from the constraints of office, Margolis told the Globe what he really thinks about Menino. He's a dummy. An "anti-intellectual" whose reign over Boston Margolis likened to Hugo Chavez's Venezuelan......

--Since Red Sox fans have a reason to party this year, Mayor Thomas Menino is already stepping in to settle them down. He met with bar and restaurant owners to discuss when to cut off the sloppy drunks. He also said he doesn't want any live cameras in bars. No live cameras? What would a nationally televised game be without a cutaway to the fans who couldn't afford tickets but who still want to celebrate?......

Former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney's name translated in Chinese might mean "Sticky Rice." State Secretary William Galvin says the federal guv'mint wants the names of presidential candidates to be printed in Chinese characters on ballots in areas where the primary language is Chinese. That sounds like such a good idea that it probably should have been done a long time ago. But translating an American name into Chinese characters isn't exactly easy......

Thomas Menino endorsed Hilary Clinton today in her bid for President in the 2008 election. The Globe brings us news of the spokesperson on spokesperson announcement: "She has the experience to lead the nation during these uncertain times," Dot Joyce, Menino's spokeswoman, said. "She's long been a supporter of America's cities and will bring the urban agenda back to the table." … A spokeswoman for Clinton's campaign said the senator welcomed Menino's support. "Mayor Menino......