-- Two, possibly three people were shot last night on Hendry St. in Dorchester. All three victims were hospitalized, and few details were made available by police. [Globe] -- A 17-year-old Cambridge boy was shot yesterday afternoon in a daytime drive-by shooting. The boy had been riding his bike near Donnelly Field in East Cambridge when he was shot by two men in a dark colored car, police say. [Cambridge Chronicle] -- The T is......

Gothy Nine Inch Nails fans have even more reason to weep today: tonight's NIN show in Worcester has been postponed. The band's site says "Trent's recurring throat ailment has left him unable to perform." Too much screaming at Lolla last weekend, Trent? (We theorize he's just afraid of Asian Longhorned Beetles.) The band has rescheduled for November 9; tickets for tonight will be honored on the new date. And if it's any consolation, Trent finds......

We've been scolded in the past for making jokes about how shady Worcester is. But, thanks to the tree-devouring Asian Longhorned Beetle, the Paris of the 80s is about to have a lot less shade. The Globe reports that the dreaded beetle was found on as many as 15 Worcester trees, the fourth known infestation in the U.S. The only way to eradicate the insect is to destroy infested trees.......

The Globe reports that Jason Robo, a Humboldt State student from Worcester, slapped a "911 was an inside job" sticker on an airline restroom, then fled, leaving another Alex Jones' Prison Planet sticker on his seat and causing a 3-hour delay for Salt Lake City passengers. The flyers who didn't flee were taken from the plane and made to wait while it was searched thoroughly by bomb-sniffing dogs. The flight eventually left three hours behind......

--A building was evacuated today in Worcester after employees became sick due to what was apparently carbon monoxide poisoning. [Worcester Telegram & Gazette] --Paul Shanley, a former priest who was convicted for molesting a boy during the church sex scandal and who is now doing time, wants a new trial. [Boston Herald] --A blaze in Cambridge yesterday resulted in a fireball and left an officer and firefighter "slightly injured." [Cambridge Chronicle] --A victory for......

-- Bike cops saw action in Roxbury, where two men were arrested after allegedly shooting guns near the Academy Homes project. The gunfire drew the attention of police from Boston's Youth Violence Strike Force, who chased the suspects into Marcella Park. The Tactical Bike Unit, responding to calls, finally caught and arrested the two men after a brawl. Universal Hub points out that one of the suspects was a recipient of a Boston anti-violence grant.......

-- The 13 year old boy found shot early yesterday morning was the victim of two assailants on bicycles, police say. The victim, whose name has not been released, was steps from his own doorway when two bullets struck him in the groin. Police say the victim was not a known troublemaker and cast initial doubt that he was the target of the attack. The boy is expected to live, but may suffer permanent injury.......

-- A 13 year old boy was shot in the South End early this morning. Police found the boy on Washington Street shortly after 1am, suffering from two gunshot wounds to the groin. He was hospitalized and is expected to survive. His identity was not released, and police have not reported any arrests. [Globe; WCVB] -- A 35 year old man was found stabbed to death in Worcester this morning. Police believe that drugs were......

-- A Worcester pastor was arrested this morning for the rape of a 15-year-old boy. Tyrone Forbes, 49, faces charges that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with the child since last November. In addition to serving as pastor at Mount Sinai Church of God in Christ, Forbes also teaches music to children at the Seven Hills Charter School. The alleged victim was not Forbes's student. [Herald; WCVB] -- The subprime crisis is beginning......

--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......

Comcast SportsNet ran an ad that says, "We can pronounce Worcester ... without sounding like an Athol." Beavis, meet Butthead. As if residents of Athol haven't heard that gag before. They're still not amused by it. In fact, the AP says they're pissed off, and now Comcast SportsNet isn't running the ad anymore. (If you haven't had your coffee yet, just say it a few times, but don't do it around your boss, okay?) Oh,......

-- A woman was robbed at gunpoint today during a daytime invasion of her parents' home in Everett. Michelle Nguyen, 24 of Malden, was babysitting her 2 year-old nephew this morning when a man dressed completely in black entered the house and held a gun to her head. She parted with $500. Both Nguyen and her nephew were left unharmed. [Herald] -- Cambridge has a flasher in a trench coat. A 20 year-old Harvard student......

America's Next Top Model: Quite a week for our locals! Alas, Massachusetts contestants seem to be following a trend. Like Mila from the last season, Kimberly, a bank teller from Worcester left in the first show. However, she volunteered to get out of the house. Some shocking information about Kimberly was revealed at the last possible minute--she thinks its silly for people to carry around a $700 handbag! And she kept talking about it. And......

Bobby Brown, we love you, but this week marked the debut of the new "America's Next Top Model" cycle, and we must lead with that. Tyra and the J-Boys (Miss J. and Jay) put the aspiring models through a charm school of sorts, in which they wore uniforms and took class photos. Kimberly, a bank teller from Worcester, was cute in a clean-cut, ditzy cheerleader way. She made it to the next round, and Bostonist......

Dark Side of the Moon, Sorta... --The last lunar eclipse for the next 2 years is happening tonight. With binoculars or even the naked eye, the moon will start to look pretty darn red around 9:00 pm EST, as if the green cheese has turned into a port wine spread. The prime time will be between 10pm and 10:30pm. Why not get a better look at an obsevatory? Harvard Observatory, 60 Garden St, Cambridge,......

--Old hotness: Late trains on the Worcester-Framingham line. New hotness: Changing the timetables so they don't look late anymore. [WBZ] --House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi has offered up a budget with a sizable tax cut for corporations that would drop the percentage from 9.5 percent to 7 percent. Let's see--the state is in a budget crunch, so he wants a tax cut? The budget also didn't include casino licenses, which sets up another Battle Royale......

--Word is out that former House Speaker and current WRKO radio-show host is going to drop his plans to become a lobbyist, finally realizing that lobbying while being a talking head might be a conflict of interest. Adam G. joked, "The WRKO job must pay more." [Boston Globe, Universal Hub] --Former Massachusetts governor and now former presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he won't try to be vice-president. But he's changed his mind before. [WCVB]......

--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......

A few days ago, everyone cared about the Commonwealth. Senator McCain was here, Senator Obama was here, Senator Clinton was in Worcester, the Kennedys were everywhere. Now we won't even have our ex-governor parading around the country insulting us. It all happened so fast. To figure out exactly what went wrong, we headed to the epicenter of right-wing commentary: the National Review. And as it turns out, Romney's defeat was caused by something we're pretty......

Massachusetts' legendary senior Senator and national liberal icon, Ted Kennedy. Massachusetts' junior Senator and the 2004 Democratic nominee, John Kerry. Massachusetts' precedent-shattering Governor, Deval Patrick. None of the endorsements were enough for Barack Obama to win the Massachusetts primary. While we gave a lot of attention yesterday to Senator Obama's epic Boston rally, Seth Gitell was reminding people that--press attention and celebrity status aside--the two strongest political machines in the state belong to Boston's......

--The MBTA put out its most recent crime statistics. The good news is that "Part I" crimes (homicide, rape, robbery, larceny) are down by 10%, and the most violent crimes are down 18.5%. "Part II" crimes (simple assault, vandalism, and the grab-bag that is "Disorderly Conduct") are up by 12%. Larceny is the most common "Part I" crime, while fraud is the most common "Part II" crime. [Full presentation at MBTA Police] --Police have officially......

--Tom Brady has been sighted, sans boot. Phew. [AP/Boston Herald] --Today's Herald headline, which reads "Vrabel Unafraid to Bare All," is mighty misleading. [Boston Herald] --WiFi starts this week on the Worcester-Framingham commuter-rail line. [AP/Boston Globe] --Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg has endorsed Barack Obama. Could an endorsement from Teddy Kennedy be far behind? [WBZ] --A man from Auburn died while snowboarding in Colorado on Friday. Jared Daniel "may have suffocated after falling headfirst into a......

Worcester's American Sanitary Plumbing Museum has decided to flush itself out of the city, but it's not going into the crapper just yet. The museum will relocate to the more appropriately named Watertown. Worcester might consider this development perfectly potty, but at least the collection is staying in Massachusetts. The owners of the museum, the Manoogs, are retiring and have donated everything to the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors of Greater Boston, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports.......

-- A man was shot to death waiting for his food at a Jamaican restaurant in Dorchester last night. Police have not identified the 24 year-old victim, the eighth Boston homicide and the fourth in three nights. His death punctuates an spree of violence in Dorchester unprecedented in recent memory. [Boston Herald] -- The Dorchester killing prompted a swift reaction from Boston Police. A massive warrant sweep netted 67 alleged criminals, several firearms and a......

The next season of America's Next Top Model will air on the CW starting February 20, and the new cast has been revealed. Last time, Sarah Hartshorne, aka "Vita Lightly" of the Boston Babydolls, represented Boston well, and now not one, but two women from Massachusetts will be undergoing extreme makeovers and wearing ridiculous clothes. Kimberly is a waifish 20-year-old banker from Worcester, and Fatima is a 22-year-old student from Boston. Both of them......

Movies --Normally, Bostonist commends the Brattle for its impeccable taste in movies, but they are boldly venturing into stinker territory with the Lindsay Lohan polefest I Know Who Killed Me. It's listed as part of the Brattle's Best of 2007 series. The inclusion of La Lohan means we've entered an alternate universe. Midnight, tonight and tomorrow night. More info on this shlocker. --The Harvard Film Archive is back open again and starting off with an......

--News the Boston Fire Department doesn't need: An anonymous person has accused firefighters of cheating on a promotional test in November. [Boston Globe] --In Hyde Park yesterday, a four-alarm fire that started at Maria's Hair Fashion damaged eight apartments, two restaurants, the salon, and another business. No one was seriously hurt, but this is the second time a salon belonging to the same owner has burned down. [Boston Herald] --Mary Marques, the oldest resident......

--Do you drink Whittier, Schultz, Balance Rock, Spring Brook, and/or Maple milk? Do you live in Worcester County and like milk? Throw out what you have in the fridge. After two people died from listeriosis, that illness was traced to Whittier Farms. [Boston Globe] --A showdown is brewing at Tufts. Former professor Susan Lautze, who was fired in 2005, is suing Tufts and Feinstein International Center director Peter Walker, claiming he had her fired......

--Former Massachusetts Speaker of the House and radio host Tom Finneran cries. Conveniently, a camera is there. [Boston Herald] --Equally conveniently, the Herald finds someone to analyze the supposedly hot new trend of men crying. How come we never get asked to discuss this stuff? They ask if guys can cry, too. Uh, they have tear ducts, right? [Boston Herald] --Another winter day, another snow collapse, this time for a gas station canopy in Worcester.......

Republican presidential candidate and Internet sensation Ron Paul doesn't need Oprah. He doesn't need connections to the hot-shot politicians. He just needs a blimp. Ron Paul's supporters are sending up a blimp for an East Coast tour from North Carolina, through DC and New York, to Boston. According to the flight plan on the Ron Paul Blimp site, the balloon will launch Wednesday in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and then travels north, flying over......