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By adamg - 3/15/13 - 9:46 am

A company that offers something like a hitchhiker app launches today in the Boston area. SideCar, already available in several cities, lets users find people going their way - people the company says have been vetted to weed out serial killers and the like.

There's a fee involved, of course, which will no doubt catch the attention of the local medallion-cab company, whose traditional monopoly on fee-based car rides is already under assault by online reservation services such as Uber and Hailo.

By adamg - 3/15/13 - 9:02 am

It's just not municipal election season until we hear the rumors about Menino winning re-election, getting Rob Consalvo elected city-council president and then stepping down so Consalvo can become mayor without an election. Oh, yeah, and the side rumor about Menino being Consalvo's godfather (he isn't).

By adamg - 3/14/13 - 2:53 pm

Pre-glossy.Pre-glossy. See the last cover.Both the Dig and the Globe report the Boston Phoenix is shutting down immediately.

The Phoenix itself tweets:

Thank you Boston. Good night and good luck.

The Phoenix has been around since 1966. It had been hard hit in recent years by the decline in print advertising and had sold off its radio station and merged the newspaper with Stuff magazine in an attempt to stay afloat.

Jim Romanesko posts a copy of publisher Stephen Mindich's memo to his staff:

By adamg - 3/14/13 - 11:23 am

Appeals court orders new judge for case.

Read the order (written by retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter).

By adamg - 3/14/13 - 9:47 am

The Boston Business Journal reports Friendly's latest attempt to redefine itself and stay alive involves switching the kind of ice cream used to make Fribbles from soft to hard.

By adamg - 3/13/13 - 9:25 pm

The School Committee tonight voted to approval an overhaul of student assignment for elementary schools that will give parents a choice of six schools - at least two of which have to have among the highest standardized test scores in the city.

The new system, which will go into effect in the 2014-2015 school year, will end the city's current three-zone system - and walk zones.

Students already in the system will be grandfathered in their current schools.

By adamg - 3/13/13 - 5:01 pm

Welker to sign with Broncos, Albert Breer tweets.

As for the day's other big selection news, no Duck Boat rolling papacy rally for us.

By Socializing4Justice - 3/13/13 - 9:53 am

Building on the success of 2012 RootsCamp DC and 2010 RootsCamp MA, this progressive “unconference” will take place the weekend of April 6-7 at SEIU 1199 in Dorchester. The RootsCamp MA Organizing Committee, a grassroots group of community organizers and activists, invites you to attend and connect with a diverse and inclusive group of activists from across the state.

What is RootsCamp MA? A unique space and opportunity for progressive organizers to come together, employing a simple and participatory “unconference” model that allows organizers focused on different issues to meet and debrief in a way that promotes shared learning and engagement. Rather than traditional panels or PowerPoints, participants set the agenda and have real live conversations about valuable organizing lessons taken from the field, both online and offline. Attendees have the opportunity to establish lasting new partnerships with organizers from all over the state. This model, first launched in 2006 by the New Organizing Institute, has proven very successful across the country. Learn more at www.bit.ly/rootscampma.

By adamg - 3/12/13 - 11:47 am

Boston Magazine takes a look at some data on how we get to work:

While many Boston metro area commuters are near the national average of 25.4 minutes, some take far longer: Workers in Scituate and Norwell, for example, average more than 35 minutes, as do those living in Mattapan. Some neighborhoods in the Back Bay, Cambridge, and the Financial District, meanwhile, are looking at commutes around 20 minutes or under.

By adamg - 3/12/13 - 11:40 am

BPS reports Matthew Johnson, husband of Superintendent Carol Johnson, passed away late yesterday in Memphis:

Matthew Johnson, her husband of nearly 40 years, was also an educator. Together they have three children. Their family shares a powerful sense of civic responsibility, educational equity and a commitment toward creating better opportunities for all.

The Superintendent has asked Chief Financial Officer John McDonough to serve as Acting Superintendent while she is away.

By adamg - 3/12/13 - 11:37 am

The local ACLU today announced its Technology for Liberty and Justice for All program, funded initially by $2 million in donations and challenge grants from Vertex founder Joshua Boger and Akamai Vice Chairman Paul Sagan:

By adamg - 3/11/13 - 10:00 pm

The Boston Business Journal reports.

By JohnAKeith - 3/11/13 - 11:40 am

EDITED FOR CLARITY

IMAGE(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8367/8545629909_5641677258.jpg)

Boston, on a bar chart:

IMAGE(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8239/8549945482_f0db6d1eb8.jpg)

Last week, the hub-bub on UHub was about Boston's changing demographics and the rise in the number of the college and post-college aged residents flooding the city.

The Boston Globe article that started the online conversation was about the rise in the 20-34 year old population, citywide level, but if you look at US Census Bureau data on a micro-level, there have been other significant shifts in population during the past two decades of equal or more significance.

What about on a neighborhood level?

By adamg - 3/11/13 - 7:41 am

EVEN UPDATIER UPDATE: Last week, boston.com ran a bogus item about Paul Krugman declaring bankruptcy.

UPDATE: It was the electronic edition of the Globe in which the story ran twice; not the ink-on-your-fingers paper edition.

Dan Kennedy reports today's Globe has a story about the fight over same-sex marriage that it also ran on March 8, 2012.

By adamg - 3/10/13 - 1:06 pm

Unless you're old enough to remember the restrooms at the Rat: Bars/clubs with good bathrooms to have sex in?

By Anonymous - 3/10/13 - 10:54 am

bostonglobe.com opinion:

John Connolly ticks off five changes. First, he’d cut the central office budget, putting the saved money into classrooms. Second, he’d lengthen the school year. Next, he’d work harder to recruit and train talented principals. He’d also make sure every school had guidance counselors, social workers, and nurses. Finally, he’d devote more money to fixing up Boston’s “crumbling” school buildings.

By michaeljawesome - 3/8/13 - 12:55 pm

Local indie band The Dotted Eyes posted a video today that is clips of scenic Boston and Cambridge. Who can name all of the locations?

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