J.L. Bell takes a look at press leaks in pre-Revolutionary Boston:

... The legal challenge to writs of assistance came in the midst of a feud between two Customs officials in Boston, Collector Benjamin Barons and Surveyor Charles Paxton. Both men slipped documents embarrassing to the other side into sympathetic newspapers. ...

Today's the day when sixth graders across Boston take the ISEE, which will help determine whether they get an invitation to one of the city's three exam schools (it counts for 50% of the decision, with the rest based on their last fifth-grade marks and their first sixth-grade marks). Here, kids - and their parents - wait in line at the West Roxbury Education Complex for check in. They had to show both an acceptance letter for the test and a passport or birth certificate - nobody was going to pull a Curley today.

Your guy won/lost this past Tuesday. You can take the sign down now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD6QTzeVjpk

Malalai Joya, now 31, was the youngest ever woman elected to the Afghan Parliament in 2005 and is an outspoken critic of the Karzai government and NATO occupation. Press Pass TV caught up with Joya and supporters at an event hosted in Dorchester by Dorchester People for Peace and United for Justice with Peace

The Jamaica Plain Gazette interviews City Councilor Steve Murphy, who says the city is nearing completion on a new "payment in lieu of taxes" plan that could almost triple the $15 million the city now receives from local colleges, hospitals and other non-profit organizations.

Beacon Press posts a note from Michael Patrick MacDonald, author of All Souls: A Family Story from Southie and Easter Rising, on his recent visit to the four Boston high schools that use his books in their curricula:

... At Codman Academy today, students read passages of All Souls to me and talked about their personal connections to each passage, e.g. one young woman related to my outrage at the injustices in my brother Steven's case, telling me -- and the assembly of students and faculty -- that she experienced similar rage at her sisters imprisonment on murder charges. I was so moved by the experience at Codman Academy that I announced that this would become an annual institution, making pro bono appearances in the Boston Public Schools every year on All Souls Day (and the following days), thus bringing the intentions of the All Souls Day vigils we once held in South Boston, into the schools (where they are as relevant as ever). ...

The Globe reports on the launch of El Tiempo de Boston, a weekly that will compete with El Mundo, El Planeta and La Semana.

Matt O'Malley, who knows something about running for an at-large city-council seat, analyzes the numbers - and suggests why Tito Jackson should consider running for Chuck Turner's district seat in two years.

New video from the Boston Public Health Commission:

Ya know, we haven't had a good horrifying rat story recently. Chris Faraone to the rescue, with a look at Boston's rat rampage, from the North End to Allston/Brighton. With bonus fun fact on how male rates mate with up to 20 other rats a day.