Another top-tier contender bailed this week as the field of candidates vying to replace retiring City Councillor Maureen Feeney appeared to solidify. Deirdre McDermott Habershaw, a former Feeney aide and ex-chief of the Columbia Savin Hill Civic Association, bowed out on Monday.

The ballot is expected to feature a diverse group: John O’Toole, a past president of the Cedar Grove Civic Association; local real estate agent Craig Galvin; Savin Hill political activist Frank Baker; and State House staffer Stephanie Everett. Doug Bennett is mounting a second attempt at a slot on the Council, and Martin Hogan is making another run. As the Reporter went to press, it was unclear if Marydith Tuitt, an aide to state Rep. Gloria Fox (D-Roxbury), had gathered enough signatures.

Tuesday was the last day to turn in nomination signatures that candidates have spent the last few weeks gathering. In the District 3 race, 200 certified signatures are required to make the ballot.

Habershaw, a regional planner with the city of Boston, said she had more than enough signatures. But family concerns played a role in her decision to pass on a City Council run, she said. “This campaign is going to be a 24/7 uphill battle for everybody in the race,” said the mother of an 18-month-old. “It’s just too much to ask of my family.”

Her departure – and that of fellow Savin Hill resident Michael Christopher, who said he preferred to focus working in Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration – leaves some Dorchester progressives still searching for a candidate to back.

Sean Weir, the current president of the Cedar Grove Civic Association, said in an e-mail to community members that family factored into his decision to pass on the race as well. “I have a few other commitments in the neighborhood that keep me away enough,” he wrote.

Habershaw and Weir both said they were not immediately endorsing any of the other candidates.

Over in the City Council At-Large race, a preliminary isn’t in the cards. The four incumbents – John Connolly, Stephen Murphy, Felix Arroyo, and Ayanna Pressley – are on the ballot. Former Councillor Michael Flaherty, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2009, also handed in enough signatures, as did Jamaica Plain’s Sean Ryan. South Bostonian Kenneth Jervis, who was among the parents battling against the closure of Clap Elementary School, said Monday that he had not gathered enough signatures.

The Elections Department was still tabulating signatures – 1,500 signatures are needed for the at-large race – at the Reporter’s deadline. Nine candidates are needed for a preliminary, and only a few would-be candidates seemed to have the names to make the ballot.

The at-large candidates will face off in a forum on Tues., June 21, at 7 p.m. at the First Church in the Back Bay neighborhood. The Ward 5 Democratic Committee is the sponsor and Boston Phoenix reporter David Bernstein will be the moderator.

Senate taking up ‘12 budget

The state Senate is in the midst of debating a $30.5 billion budget, with lawmakers plowing through hundreds of amendments that focus on a range of topics, including restoring funding for youth jobs to increasing funds for violence prevention programs. A number of local programs, including Grove Hall’s Project RIGHT and the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, are funded through the violence prevention programs. “They’re geared towards dealing with youth in the community that are most impacted by violence,” said Michael Kozu of Project RIGHT.

On Wednesday, the Senate restored $3 million to youth jobs funding, saving 1,200 jobs with a figure $1 million higher than in the House budget, but more than a million dollars lower than what advocates were hoping for.

“This budget was created under the tightest fiscal constraints in a generation, and contains painful cuts,” Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, who represents a part of Dorchester, said in a statement. Chang-Diaz, who along with Sen. Jack Hart (D-South Boston) is sponsoring several of the amendments restoring funding to the youth jobs and violence prevention programs, pointed to several bright spots in the budget, including funding for teen pregnancy prevention and state aid to public libraries. Adult day health services, which were cut in the House and governor’s budget, were fully funded.

During the House debate over the budget, lawmakers ended up adding around $70 million to their version’s bottom line. “It really was just us looking at what was critical and hoping revenues improve in the future,” said state Rep. Russell Holmes, a Mattapan Democrat and freshman House member. He added that most of the items the Boston delegation was advocating for were funded, with the hope of employing a supplemental mini-budget down the road if revenues improve.

Neither the House budget nor the Senate budget includes tax hikes.

After this week, the budget heads to a conference committee of House and Senate members, who will hash out a final version to send to the governor’s desk for a signature in June.

The budget deliberations come as the ongoing federal trial of former House Speaker Sal DiMasi pulls back the curtain on State House machinations. “Anytime a leader in this building is indicted for something that happened while they were in office, the entire building pays a price,” House Minority Leader Brad Jones told the State House News Service. “As someone who cares about the institution, it is absolutely a black eye.”

Quote of Note: An Eire Pub barfly

On Monday, when Barack Obama visited the tiny Irish town of Moneygall, home of ancestors on his mother’s side, the televisions inside the famed Eire Pub were tuned to the live feed. The Associated Press’s Russell Contreras was at the bar, site of visits by Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, and he spoke with real estate agent Stephen McGee. “He needs to get in here,” McGee told him. “We need to see to that.” Indeed, Obama has hit up Boston several times – recently dropping by Dorchester’s TechBoston Academy – but he hasn’t made it down to the historic tavern in Adams Village. At a Moneygall bar, Obama had a pint of Guinness. According to the White House pool report, he said the Guinness there tasted better than in America. “You’re keeping all the best stuff here,” he quipped.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Material from State House News Service was used in this report. Check out updates to Boston’s political scene at The Lit Drop, located at dotnews.com/litdrop. Gin Dumcius can be reached via email at newseditor@dotnews.com