Boston Herald

Last week, the Herald reported state Rep. Gloria Fox was under investigation for "sneaking a murderer’s girlfriend - previously bagged for engaging in 'sexual acts' with the killer con - into a state prison in Bridgewater."

Darrell Jones, the inmate in question, fires back at the Herald with a blog post.

Tabloid shocker at Herald Square.

Lauren Beckham Falcone reviews a book about "the happiest place on earth" by a "Disney addict" and reveals that she knows more drug slang than the average Mouseketeer. Perhaps that explains why it's so happy, though her references call up some pretty unhappy situations...

The Herald headlines: Coed tied to killing fights graduation ban.

The story also mentions "a second coed." Well, at least they didn't refer to them as "leggy" or "gamine" or anything, so progress marches on.

Dan Kennedy recounts 50 years of bad blood and revenge between the Globe and the Herald.

Meanwhile, the Herald reports the deal negotiated by the paper and the Newspaper Guild calls for an 8.3% pay cut, furloughs and the end of guaranteed life employment for some employees.

Sure, he's entitled to gloat, again, at the possible impending demise of the Globe.

But really, Howie, complaining that the Globe blew it in 2006 in some sports column? Is that really that much worse than Spygate? You have such a good memory, Howie - you're always bringing up obscure moments in hackdom from the 1970s - surely you couldn't have forgotten something that happened just last year?

And what about that time back in 1983 when Kevin White got you guys but good and you ran that front-page exclusive about him running for re-election, only it turns out he wasn't? That was a good one, too. Guess that means you should shrivel up and die, as well, huh?

The Herald is besides itself in outrage that Philip Markoff has no money and will get a public defender, maybe even two, that bastard.

What? Innocent until proven guilty? What? Even the broke have a Constitutional right to a lawyer? When did all this happen? It's an outrage!

Down 13.6% from a year ago on weekdays, and 11.2% on Sundays, reports Media Nation (quoting Editor & Publisher). Will the Globe now be forced to reduce the rates that it charges advertisers?

The Globe would never give us a photo of a rat in a Harvard sweatshirt.

Speaking of the Globe, though, does anybody know if the May 1 deadline means that the possible last ever edition of the Globe is April 30 or May 1?

What would the Herald be without its beloved adjectives? I've been reading up on the Philip Markoff case at BostonHerald.com, and here's their basic romance novel/suspense thriller back-cover summary of the players in this sad story:

To explain why the Globe should die right this second. Guy sure knows how to nurse a grudge.

Eileen McNamara reveals she is not a big fan of Times ownership of the Globe.

Meanwhile, the Herald, which gave McNamara some venting room, goes into hyper-turbo Globe coverage mode, which is probably more fun than writing about its own slow demise.

It may seem like a twisted suggestion out of Dr. Moreau's "Island of Lost Souls" -- an action that seems to violate nature itself -- but in this new era of extraordinary business machinations, why aren't we talking about finding a way to merge the Globe and the Herald?

About half voluntary, the Herald itself reports.

At least two: Alex Beam and now Lauren Beckham Falcone at the Herald.

The Gals are greatly amused at what they consider pisspoor reporting by Adam Reilly and Dan Kennedy for daring to question some blogger's contention that the Globe will be out of business by year's end.

Dan Kennedy in turn is greatly amused that the Wingo Square denizens have yet to correct their own report that the Globe-will-fold post was published by Time magazine, when, in fact, it wasn't.

To 400 workers, in the hopes that 20 will actually take the paper up on it; publisher says paper is in the black for the current fiscal year.

So Republicans held a protest against the proposed gas tax on the steps of the State House and a few people showed up.

But how few? The Globe reports several dozen people showed up. The Herald puts the number at two dozen in the headline and a more precise "25" in the story.

Ed. Note: The Herald seems to have replaced its initial story with this AP story that doesn't mention a number in the headline but still says "25" in the body.

As Boston's two major dailies head towards a seeming financial death spiral, it's time once again to ask whether they should be charging for access to online content.

When the computer age dawned, a "hacker ethic" emerged, holding that information should be free and accessible to all. (Steven Levy's fascinating book, Hackers, is especially recommended.) That ethic has permeated the Web, which in less than a decade has become an incredible free library of human knowledge and a great source of informed and diverse commentary.

The Herald reports on the Starbucks bandit, says he is wanted for "a string of downtown robberies" on streets such as Newbury, Longwood and Brookline.

Remember the judge who won a libel suit against the Herald and then rubbed it in by using his official stationery to threaten Herald publisher Pat Purcell? The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today he was nothing more than a bully. Oh, sure, they didn't put it in quite those words, but the net effect is the same:

In sending the letters at issue, Judge Murphy did not meet the high standards required of judges.

The Herald's Dave Wedge goes through Deval Patrick's 32-page wish list of infrastructure projects he hopes to have his pal Obama stimulate and finds several "potential pork projects," including:

$6 million to replace 20,000 trees damaged by "beetle infestation."

Nice use of quotation marks there, Dave. Never heard of the Asian Longhorned Beetle and how the feds are trying to prevent it from spreading from Worcester to, oh, every single maple tree in New England? Perhaps, as Worcester cuts down all those trees (well, the ones that didn't fall down last week), some enterprising arborists will save all the beetles they find and mail them to Wedge. After they've been killed, of course.

Or did she just feel like taking it easy and tossing out a column on nudie teen pix that adds absolutely nothing to the discussion? She should leave the cranky-old-person stuff to Alex Beam - he's much better at it (although I do like the related poll that includes this option: "Nobody ever sends me sexy photos"). Maybe she's still getting over the journalistic disappointment of not being groped on the Red Line the other day or something.

David Wedge picks himself up off the floor from the shock of learning that people who get out of jail aren't simply shot in the head and then dumped into the ocean and so sometimes actually manage to get jobs doing what they did before their convictions - such as working as truck drivers in the local movie business.

In any case, Adam Reilly wonders why Wedge didn't note that the tax breaks that began bringing moviemakers here en masse were first signed into law by Mitt Romney, not Deval Patrick. And no doubt Wedge was very anxious to tell his readers how vociferously the Herald supported those tax breaks - if only the Herald hadn't shrunk its pages a few weeks back:

In short: if you're incensed that ex-con Teamsters are making big bucks on "taxpayer-subsidized movie sets" (to use Wedge's phrase), there's plenty of blame to go around.

Sure, sure, that's pure speculation based on the news today that Herald publisher Pat Purcell is becoming executive chairman of the Ottaway Newspapers, which Murdoch got as a side dish when he bought the Wall Street Journal. The chain includes the Cape Cod Times, the New Bedford Standard-Times and the Portsmouth Herald.

"There is a great team in place at Ottaway. I think it's heading in the right direction," said Purcell, who added that he'll still be based at the Herald.

But he did say there are possibilities the Ottaway papers, especially those based in Massachusetts, could work more closely with the Herald in the future. ...

Purcell, of course, has worked with Murdoch before - and he bought the Herald from him during all that unpleasantness involving Channel 25 and Teddy Kennedy.