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Sorry, you're too late to have Maureen Feeney marry you in the Public Garden during a weekday

The City Council today adopted new rules that will limit new City Clerk Maureen Feeney's ability to pick up some side cash by performing weddings.

City Councilor Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury) said the new rules will bring transparency to a government function and some extra money to city government. At the State House, state Rep. Marty Walz (D-Back Bay) is pushing similar legislation to limit the ability of city and town clerks to make money through weddings during business hours.

Under the new regulation, proposed by City Councilor Mike Ross (Mission Hill), any fees for weddings performed during business hours at City Hall will go into city coffers, rather than Feeney's pocket. Previously, Feeney and her predecessor, Rosaria Salerno, could keep the $15 fee for "solemnizing" a wedding.

In addition, the new regulation limits City Hall Weddings to the hours of 10 to 11:30 a.m. and 2 to 3 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays - although Ross said an "emergency provision" would let would-be spouses apply for a wedding at other times in unspecified emergency situations. But weddings performed by city officials outside City Hall during any business hours are now prohibited, although Ross added that that just means people will now get married "in this beautiful building."

Feeney can still pocket fees for any marriages she performs outside of business hours or on her lunch hour.


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Panhandler sought for Roxbury carjacking

Boston Police report they are looking for a guy they say asked a motorist for money and, when the driver refused, got in the car, took control of it and drove away.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 13:33
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Boston.com is changing its YourTown local pages. Do you like the changes?

In 2008, Boston.com launched locally-focused YourTown pages for specific Boston neighborhoods and surrounding cities and towns.

They are now redesigning the pages, one by one, in a manner that de-emphasizes Boston.com and Globe content in favor of links to external news sources and tweets. All of the Boston neighborhood pages are still in the old format, but many of the surrounding cities and suburbs have been converted.

What's your opinion of the changes? Here are some 'old' and 'new' pages to compare:

Old: Arlington, Concord, Newton, Roslindale, Waltham

New: Belmont, Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Lexington

Once we've collected sufficient comments here, I'm going to point David Dahl of the Globe at this post. He is in charge of both the existing YourTown pages and the ongoing redesign.


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Men convicted of illegal weapons possession to get new trial because their gun might have been an antique

The Supreme Judicial Court today ordered new trials for Liquarry Jefferson and Leslie Burton-Brown, convicted in 2009 of illegal weapons possession for a gun police and state troopers said they threw out a car window during a chase along Melville Avenue in Dorchester.

The court said their trial judge erred in refusing to let them argue the gun was manufactured before 1900, which would have made it an "antique" exempt from state gun-control laws, even though a police expert found it could still fire rounds.

[T]he defendants were denied the opportunity to raise this affirmative defense before the jury and argue that, if the Commonwealth failed to prove that the firearm was manufactured after 1899, the defendants should be found not guilty of the offenses predicated on the unlawful carrying of a firearm. The judge's ruling also meant that the Commonwealth was not required to rebut this affirmative defense to prevail at trial, and therefore did not need either to present evidence regarding the manufacturing date of the firearm or to challenge the expert's testimony that the firearm was manufactured in 1896.

The verdict is a rare bit of legal good news for Jefferson, who has a lengthy record of violent crimes and whose son, also named Liquarry, died in 2007, when accidentally shot by his cousin.


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Body of missing BC student found in Chestnut Hill Reservoir

Updated 12 p.m.

Channel 4 reports officials have identified the body found floating in Chestnut Hill Reservoir this morning as Franco Garcia, a BC student last seen leaving a Cleveland Circle bar on Feb. 22.

State Police and Boston Fire crews started arriving at the Chestnut Hill Avenue side of the reservoir around 8 a.m., after a passerby noticed a body in the water.


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And this week's Bad Timing Award goes to: RCN's advertising agency

For booking the following ad on Boston-area Web sites when RCN's Internet service goes down for 2,500 local customers around 7 p.m. on Tuesday and then stays down through Wednesday morning.

RCN ad


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'BU is not an urban circle of hell where sorority girls drink too much and frat boys are tied up in Allston dungeons'

A BU student has had enough with the headlines (such as this one) about her school:

If every undergraduate student posts his or her favorite memory of BU to their Facebook, Twitter or blog, there would be more than 18,000 positive examples of BU online to counteract the few negative ones. I can't name all of the best things about BU in this letter, so I'm going to need your help.


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No dire budget projections for Boston this year

In fact, things are almost looking sort of rosy, thanks to a reduction in health-care costs and an expected jump in revenue, the Globe reports. In fact, the city's looking to hire new firefighters, cops and teachers, the Herald reports.


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McGrory channels his inner Shaughnessy

Yes, it's time for the Globe metro columnist's annual fantasy-sportswriter camp, and this year, the focus is on how much he hates the 2012 Sox.


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No WUMB Music Festival (née Boston Folk Festival) in 2012

WUMB radio has sponsored a music festival since 1998, called 'Boston Folk Festival' through 2009 but renamed 'WUMB Music Festival' for 2010 and 2011.

But not this year. The festival web site announces:

The 2012 WUMB Music Fest scheduled for Sunday, June 3rd has been cancelled.

The site says a 'Member Concert Marathon' will replace it on that date, but this appears to be for WUMB members only rather than for the general paying public.

WUMB's festival has been in decline for several years. Formerly a two-day event, it was reduced to one day starting in 2007. In 2009 it was nearly cancelled, then hurriedly revived as an indoor-only event. In 2010 its name was changed and the date moved from September to June. In 2011, the festival's annual songwriting contest was cancelled.

Local folk fans seeking an outdoor festival will need to travel to Lowell or New Bedford this summer.


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