David listens to 'GBH's "Here and Now" killer, wasn't much impressed.

Kaprelian will be doing the weather on Friday mornings on the :55s on Oldies 103.3 with Zito and Karen Blake.

H/t Maureen Carney.

From BPHC

The Boston Public Health Commission has posted findings from a study of swine-flu cases in Boston over the past year. One key finding: Hispanics required hospitalization for H1N1 more than four times as often as whites; black three times as often. Almost half the blacks requiring a hospital stay had asthma, which the commission says underscores the need for particularly active vaccination programs for people with certain other existing health issues (UPDATE: Sharp-eyed, statistics-minded SwirlyGrrl notes in the comments the problem seems to be among minority children, not adults).

Also, North Dorchester was the only area to get hit hard during spring and autumn waves of the infection - other neighborhoods tends to be hard hit during one or the other season. To date, 7 Bostonians have died from H1N1

City statistics show dramatically higher emergency-room visits than in past years, peaking around early June and early November, but the commission says H1N1 is still around and people should still get vaccinated - especially if they're in a high-risk group.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that former house Speaker Thomas Finneran be disbarred, saying lying under oath was a serious enough offense to keep him away from the bar.

Finneran had argued his offense was not really all that bad because he didn't commit it as part of his law practice. The court disagreed:

The respondent's misconduct implicates both the integrity of the judicial system and the honesty of a member of the bar. We have no reason to disagree with the finding that the respondent's conduct during the voting rights lawsuit represented an aberrant event in his long career of serving his constituency and the public with loyalty and distinction. But the respondent was convicted of a serious crime involving false testimony to a court under oath in a significant case about fundamental rights. ... [T]he public perception of the bar would be gravely damaged if this court were to impose a sanction less than the generally applicable one of disbarment.

In 2007, federal prosecutors dropped perjury charges against Finneran in exchange for his pleading guilty to a single charge of obstruction of justice. In the plea agreement, however, he agreed he "knowingly and willfully made misleading and false statements" during a court hearing on a lawsuit over the way the state re-drew legislative district lines.

Complete ruling.
Finneran's plea agreement.