STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, FEB. 2, 2012……Proposals approved in the House and Senate that would eliminate parole for three-time violent offenders would likely affect just a handful of offenders per year, according to a key House lawmaker.

Rep. David Linsky (D-Natick), a former prosecutor and a member of the six-member panel trying to negotiate a consensus House-Senate habitual offender and sentencing reform bill, also ripped as inaccurate claims being circulated by the plan’s opponents that the legislation would lead to $125 million in new costs.  Read more

On a January night four years ago, Mayor Thomas Menino took to the stage of the Strand Theatre in Uphams Corner and pledged to revamp the school assignment process, citing the tens of millions of dollars the city was spending busing students across Boston.

“I will not allow us to pour dollar after dollar into gas tanks, when we could invest more of that money into our classrooms,” Menino said. “I know this is a very sensitive issue, but strong leadership is all about facing facts and providing a plan to push forward.”  Read more

The defense attorneys at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, PC, earned their keep this week. While he joined an ever-lengthening list of high-profile criminals from Boston, Arthur Winn, a top developer with ties to former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, escaped jail time and probation, and instead received a $100,000 fine.  Read more

A resounding “No!” was the word of the night on Tuesday evening in Mattapan. The word rang from every corner of the auditorium at Mildred Ave Community Center in Mattapan on Tuesday evening, scene of the latest public hearing on proposed fare increases and service cuts on the MBTA.

This was the ninth of at least 25 scheduled hearings in and around the T’s service area, and it drew riders, activists, and concerned citizens from far and wide, city neighborhoods and suburbs alike.  Read more

Kevin Hagan White was a man of many personas – ebullient, moody, haughty, energetic, fretful, intellectual, daring, to name a few ascribed to him during his often-tumultuous mayoral occupancy of Boston City Hall from 1968 through 1983.

White, who died on Friday, Jan. 26, at age 82, took what his immediate predecessors, John B. Hynes and John F. Collins had begun – the rebirth of a Boston that some had come to call decrepit – and added his own imaginative flourishes as the city of the Brahmins regained its long-held place among the nation’s and the world’s great cities.  Read more

An upcoming case before the state’s highest court, stemming from the Boston City Council’s removal of convicted former Councilor Chuck Turner, could alter how city and town governing bodies regulate their own membership. After Turner was found guilty of accepting a bribe and lying about it to federal investigators in 2010, the City Council invoked a rule to remove Turner from the panel for violating his oath of office.

At the center of the court battle is whether the City Council had the legal authority to remove Turner when they voted to vacate the District 7 seat in Dec. 2010.  Read more

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JAN. 31, 2012…..Governor’s Council member Kelly Timilty of West Roxbury, who served under five governors on the panel that vets judicial nominees, died early Tuesday morning after a brief illness, a council official said Tuesday.

Timilty, 49, was first elected to the council in 1994 and last attended a council meeting on Nov. 16.  Read more

The Boston Police Department reports arresting a Greenwood Street resident who'd finally snapped at all the parents who stop in front of his driveway to pick up kids at the school across the street.

According to police, a father of a Greenwood School student pulled up in front of Henry Perry's house at 136 Greenwood St. around 3:30 p.m. yesterday.  Read more

Dorchester’s nine remaining Catholic parishes will be bundled into five different “pastoral collaboratives” in a proposal laid out last Friday during a meeting of clergy at St. Peter’s Church on Bowdoin Street. The reorganization – “part of a larger, Archdiocesan-wide effort” – will be reviewed over the next several months by parish advisory councils and would likely be phased into effect over the next three to five years once a final plan is approved by Cardinal Sean O’Malley.  Read more

A pair of silver cups made 311 years ago for a former minister at Dorchester’s First Parish Church were sold at an auction in New York last Friday for $1.08 million. The Governor Stoughton Cups, created in 1701 by silversmith Jeremiah Dummer, have been part of a collection owned by First Parish and stored at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The cups were sold, along with several other silver items owned by the church, during a special Americana auction held last week at Sotheby’s.  Read more

While several new developments are poised to make their debut in Mattapan Square in the new year, one veteran merchant has decided to make a move to a new part of the neighborhood. Roberts Photo Studio recently relocated to Morton Street after nearly four decades at the corner of Cummins Highway and River Street.

“I‘m proudest of being able to do exactly what I wanted during my entire career. That was a real blessing,” said Desie Roberts, 66, owner and master photographer of the studio.  Read more

Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) held its Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) campaign kickoff last Thursday to encourage more low and moderate income families and individuals to file for tax returns and receive up to $5,751 in tax credits.

Last week’s announcement was held at ABCD’s Dorchester Neighborhood Service Center on Claybourne Street. ABCD is one of several organizations across the state that assists eligible residents in seeking the tax credits— and they are bracing for a large volume of applicants this year.  Read more