More reason for cash-starved college students, especially those in the UMass system, to cultivate the taste for ramen. WBZ reports, "The university's trustees finance panel approved a 3.1 percent increase in fees Wednesday." The hike applies to all UMass campuses, including UMass-Boston. However, UMass-Amherst will see the greatest rise in fees. A press release from the school points out that, compared to the private schools, public education is still a bargain: Last year, the average......

The feud between Red Sox ownership and Hank "Spaulding Smails" Steinbrenner is escalating. After Hank moaned, "Red Sox Nation? What a bunch of [expletive] that is.", John Henry responded by sending Hank an honorary RSN membership card. While we've taken our shots at the bloated "Red Sox Nation" phenomenon before - it's jumped the shark the way "Sweet Caroline" did, and Gino is in the process of doing - we recognize the need to circle......

Martha Frankel Reads from Hats and Eyeglasses: A Family Love Affair with Gambling Wednesday, February 27, 7 p.m. Harvard Coop, 3rd floor If you’ve mainly watched flashy Vegas poker on TV, you might think that the “hats and eyeglasses” in the title of Martha Frankel’s new memoir refer to the accessories of choice for poker players bent on getting good luck from their headgear or using tinted glasses to conceal any emotion in their eyes.......

You'll have to forgive the Celtics if they felt like they arrived in Portland having lurched their way up the Oregon Trail. Three losses in a row doesn't quite compare to running out of buffalo meat and spilling a wagon into the Big Blue River, but combine that with the debacle in Phoenix, and you can understand why some of the team felt like they died of cholera. Things reached the lowest of the low......

-- If you saw a red-handed man downtown today, he was probably a bank robber. Police are searching for a man in his 50s in connection with the afternoon hold-up of the First Federal Savings Bank. The man fled the scene in a cab until a red dye pack in his loot bag exploded. He then fled on foot. Confidential to cabbies: people running from a bank with a bag of money are likely to......

Opera Boston Underground "Quickies" Tonight, doors at 7:00 p.m. (Bostonist suggests getting in line early), show at 7:30 p.m. Lizard Lounge (1667 Mass. Ave., Cambridge) $8 cover, 21+ Opera Boston Underground is the casual, subterranean branch of Opera Boston (whose smart, cute Semele we enjoyed earlier this month) and tonight they return to the Lizard Lounge for a handful of semi-staged mini-operas, with three libretti (and one score) by the late Gian Carlo Menotti. A......

-- The Bridgewater man being sought by police for the murder of his ex-wife was found dead last night, an apparent suicide. Andrew Boisvert was found hanging in an Iredell County, North Carolina rest stop. He was fleeing Friday's warrant for his arrest in the murder of Medford resident Margaret Ninos, who was found beaten to death in her home on Wednesday. A North Carolina rest stop worker discovered Boisvert's body hanging from a tree.......

FNX has been on a roll lately, hosting two of the biggest indie bands on the scene right now, Band of Horses and Vampire Weekend. Both bands have a reputation for appealing to a hipster crowd, and while tight jeans, ironic T-shirts, and beards (oh-so many beards) were indeed prevalent at both shows, the main focus has been on the unique sound of both acts. Band of Horses was one of the recently affected......

--A man was shot in the chest in Cambridge last night at the intersection of Windsor and Harvard. Police say the injury is life-threatening. [Boston Globe] --A robber attacked a clerk at the Brookline convenience store One Stop Market, holding a knife to the clerk's throat, on Wednesday. The "other BPD" has released videotape in an effort to track the man down. [Fox 25] --A suspect has been named in the murder of nurse Margaret......

--The BPD gathered together owners of establishments that sell liquor in response to the two incidents in which a creep offered women rides, took them to Charlestown, and sexually assaulted them. According to the BPD, both crimes "originated in the State Street area." At the meeting, the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) gave advice to bar and club owners on how to stop these assaults before they start. [BPD News] --Early this morning, a......

Great Romances III Friday, Feb 8 -- Thursday, Feb 14, various times Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge More details Somebody at the Brattle Theatre must have a heart made of sap. The cinema is hosting not one, not two, but six days of romantic films leading up to Valentine's Day. You cannot deal with that much loving. We cannot. So, Bostonist has assembled a quick guide to help you choose the ideal screening for......

Is it even an argument at this point? Boston's Mayor Menino caused the Patriots' loss by planning the city's victory party a little too early and much too transparently. Last Wednesday, well before the unthinkable happened, the Herald was already proclaiming, "Tommy, you might as well have suited up for the hated Giants." While the mourning (and the blame game) continues, political life must also go on. With the Massachusetts primary being held tomorrow, the......

A spring-loaded dress, a sun-lit fan, and a purse with a built-in alarm system were just a few of the futuristic fashions on display at the Seamless: Computational Couture fashion show at the Museum of Science on Wednesday. Over 1000 design and technology lovers packed three floors of the MoS's Blue Wing to admire clothes and accessories ranging from sublime (an air-filled dress that changes shape based on barometric pressure) to sci-fi (a burial suit......

Victoria Beckham is a style icon with Hermes bag collection that would make most women green with envy. It’s also fitting that she would make an appearance on Wednesday promoting her jeans & sunglasses collection right before her other gig that night. For those of you who don’t know, she sometimes sings with this pop group from the UK, ever hear of them? Spice something? Some people know her as the one who doesn’t sing......

Here's something we never thought of: the Patriots' (hopeful) victory parade would have to be on Tuesday, thus conflicting with the Massachusetts primary. The team won't be back on Monday, and most of them have to go to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii on Wednesday. So Tuesday (and not AFTER the Pro Bowl, which would just be crazy talk) it is. "We have to have a plan," saidMayor Menino. "I'm just thinking about it; I......

Late-Breaking Event Johnny Pesky will be at the Barnes & Noble in Peabody tonight from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm signing books. Movies A Hong Kong drug-runner (Asia Argento) finds herself in trouble in Boarding Gate, Olivier Assayas' stylish thriller, which comes with side orders of sex and violence. Make that heaping side orders, plus a dash of Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon. (She acts? Who knew?) Assayas will be at the Harvard Film Archive......

Given our current state of divisive affairs - debate about the war, the ever-intensifying drama between presidential candidates, New York versus Boston - it's somewhat nice to know that there's one thing the vast majority of the American people can agree on: we're in The Office withdrawal. It's unclear at the present how long we will remain unified as one nation missing Michael Scott, given that the Writers Guild of America and the majors are......

Human Rights International Film Festival at the MFA The Axe in the Attic: Review follows. Sunday, January 20, 2 pm Friday, January 25, 5:45 pm Saturday, January 26, 12:45 pm Thursday, January 31, 6 pm Hot House: A probing documentary that explores the emergence of a Palestinian national leadership within Israeli prisons. Screens Sunday, January 20, 2008, 10:30 am. White Light/Black Rain: A film exploring the threat of nuclear weapons today while looking at mistakes......

After Randy Moss vigorously defended himself after a woman in Florida served him with a temporary restraining order, the woman's lawyer, David McGill, provided a different story. Where Moss suggested that the woman, whom he has known for some time, was trying to extort money from him, the lawyer said that Moss tried to pay her "hush money" in the six figures. In court documents, the victim checked off a box stating that Moss had......

The Axe in the Attic Human Rights Watch International Film Fest Wednesday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m. Remis Auditorium, MFA Tickets: $10 MFA members, seniors & students; $12 others. Tonight, The Axe in the Attic opens the four-day Human Rights Watch International Film Fest at the MFA. This film follows two New Englanders on a post-Katrina road trip to New Orleans, depicting their interactions with evacuees and confronting difficult realizations about the many shortcomings of......

Finally, finally, the National Treasure got the smack-down by two geezers, and ">The Bucket List won this weekend's box office. Juno is still high on the list. While we're happy for Juno's success, is it just us, or are people trying too hard to seem hip by talking about Juno all the time? And has anyone else noticed that Alvin and the Chipmunks isn't going away, either? Now, we'd pay to see the Alvin and......

--The media has become entranced by the image of a dude looking like a lady and robbing a bank in Somerset on Wednesday. There's really not much of a story here, except that the dude in question makes for one ugly woman. Apparently, Mrs. Doubtfire was hotter. [Boston Globe] --A suspect turned himself in for the murder of Joseph Clarke, who was the first person killed in Boston this year. The suspect allegedly shot Clarke......

--The Boston Police Department and the DA's Office are investigating the death of an inmate at the Suffolk County House of Correction. 41-year-old Darryl Lee Leslie died on New Year's Eve while being moved to maximum security because he was, according to a jail spokesman, "planning a violent attack." An autopsy is being performed. [Boston Globe] --A 15-year-old who was shot in the stomach at a New Year's Eve party in New Bedford has since......

Cold, cold, holy crap it is cold! Bloody well everyone can agree that a high of 14 is cold. Barry Burbank at WBZ says "this weekend temperatures will get into the 40's and then the 50's on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week." Barry, we're holding you to that. You may as well have fun in the cold, though. Miss Von Schtoop notes that one of her neighbors has a fondness for making pissicles.......

The first day of 2008 came and went on Wednesday,and Boston sports teams are now all undefeated this year. Or, in other words, no one's set the tone of the new year through a game. The Celts could set a high bar tonight when they welcome Houston to the Garden. Boston had a few days to celebrate the holiday and recover from the physical play they encountered in Los Angeles on Sunday night. Those hoping......

Gifts were exchanged in Foxboro yesterday. From Miami to New England: a total lack of competition. From New England to Miami: Their foots off the gas pedal and a non-humiliation. 'Tis the season in the NFL. The Pats jumped out to an early lead, befitting a matchup of 14-0 against 1-13. Brady found Randy Moss twice (been a while since we've heard that!), then Laurence Maroney dashed away untouched for a career-long 59 yards for......

--A Scroogey robber attacked a USPS driver in Roxbury last night. O'Ryan Johnson reports that the robber cuffed the driver to the steering wheel of his truck, and then the robber went shopping. Here's a description of the perp: The crook is described as a black male, 6-feet tall, 220 pounds, wearing a thigh-length dark coat, dark-colored jogging pants and white tennis shoes. Luckily for the driver, the robber didn't hurt him, and some people......

We could choose to be disappointed. We figured (and we weren't the only ones) that the combination of crappy weather, boisterous fans and motivated personnel would mean the Patriots would kick the Jets' butts up and down the field for three hours. We figured that, even though we're better than New York in every sport right now, yesterday would be a cathartic blowout to soothe any lingering anti-NY feelings around here. Well, not quite. The......

Ahhh … BPD News is back. However, somebody hit "Publish" a few times, and the "Daily Incidents for Wednesday, December 12" appears several times. No matter, welcome back! And how could we resist a headline like "Do You Want to Tell the Police This?" A man marched into Roxbury B-2 on Wednesday night to tell police that he took a ride in an illegal cab. While in the cab, he and a friend decided to......

--Police at Dorchester District Court released the wrong man, according to the Dorchester Reporter. The Reporter is very kind to the officers involved: "In a rare but potentially embarrassing gaffe, officers at Dorchester District Court this week appeared to release the wrong man, allowing him to waltz out of the courthouse and bolt down Washington Street, as confusion reigned inside." The reporter, Gintautas Dumcius, later notes that "The court officers glumly walked back to the......