Foreclosures in Massachusetts are up. [Boston Business Journal] Public pension funds are down. [WBZ] Unemployment is up. [Boston Globe] City Hall is still hiring despite Mayor Mumbles proclaiming a job freeze last month. [Boston Herald] There's talk of raising taxes on gasoline instead of increasing tolls. [WBZ-TV] Until then, find the best routes to avoid tolls. [Boston Herald] Pieces of meat have been mysteriously appearing in Framingham Common for the past 5 weeks. [MetroWest......

Deval Patrick wrote an op-ed in the Globe yesterday about reforming Massachusetts transportation. He advocated consolidation and system-wide planning, and emphasized multi-modal transportation. Proposing an elimination of the Turnpike Authority, Patrick outlined a plan to turn over roads that go to Logan and the South Boston Seaport (including Mass Pike east of route 128) to Massport, while the Highway Department would take over the turnpike west of 128. Tolls will be eliminated on the western......

--The thought of Massachusetts drivers plus a U-Turn that's open to the public makes us skittish. [WBZ] --The National Transportation Safety Board released a report saying that the crash between a train and a truck that killed two maintenance employees last January happened because "several employees of the railroad failed to do a very important part of their job." [Boston Globe] --Remember that toll increase? Well, that money might to go pay off debt. And......

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......

--First Night pictures are up! What you see above from Flickr user post406 is only a taste of the pictures you can find that are tagged "Bostonist" on Flickr. Thanks for adding your photos! --The L Street Brownies take a dip in the harbor. A really cool dip. [Boston Globe] --The state's minimum wage goes up to 8 bucks an hour today. [Boston Globe] --As the minimum wage went up, so went the tolls.......

--New England Confectionery Co., aka NECCO, was sold to a company in Bethesda, Maryland. So, will the name be changed to Maryland Confectionary Company, or MACCO? We certainly hope not. [Boston Globe] --More reasons to give up your car. On New Year's Day, tolls at the Allston-Brighton and Route 128 plazas will go up from $1 to $1.25. The price jump is even higher for the Ted Williams Tunnel and the Sumner Tunnel: $3 to......